LAND CRUISING
AND
PROSPECTING

BY
A. F. WALLACE

"Going in"- Prospecting. 

Land Cruising and
Prospecting

A Book of Valuable Information for Hunters,
Trappers, Land Cruisers, Prospectors
and Men of the Trail - Tells
How to Locate One's Self
on the Map, Etc.

BY 

A. F. WALLACE

Published by
A. R. Harding, Publisher
Columbus, Ohio

CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

I. Maps 13
II. The Compass 25
III. Examining and Locating 30
IV. Early Surveys 40
V. Corner Marks 50
VI. Miscellaneous Information 57
VII. Points for Homesteaders 67
VIII. Prospecting for Gold 73
IX. Sampling Ore 84
X. How to Locate a Claim 90
XI. Poor Man's Ore Mill 93
XII. Prospecting for Fur 98
XIII. Prospecting for Pearls 108
XIV. Prospecting for Bees 117
XV. Rations and Camp Cookery 122
XVI. Camp Kits 132
XVII. Guns, Axes and Packstraps 140
XVIII. Building Cabins, Tanning, Etc. 147
XIX. Getting Lost 154
XX. The Red River Trapper 168 

COPYRIGHT 1933
By A. R. HARDING PUB. CO.

List of Illustrations

Page

Going In - Prospecting  .Frontispiece
Township Diagram 19
Grass or Meadow Lands 20
Cultivated Land 20
Oak and Hardwood Land 21
Pine and Spruce Land 21
Swamps 21
Roads 21
Towns 22
Contours - Three Hills 23
Contours 23
Streams and Lake 24
True North and South 28
Big Dipper 29
Northern Pine Forests 31
Locating a Section Corner 38
Section Corner Mound 44
Township Corner Mound 45
Corner Posts 46
Corner Stones 51
Scene in a Promising New Section 60
Poor Country to Homestead 68
Ore Vein - Step Fault 76
Folding Vein 77
Pinchout Vein 77
Mountain Top Vein 78
Panning - Washing for Gold 85
Staking Out Claim 91
Poor Man's Stamp Mill 96
Prospectors Viewing Rocky Mt. Snowslide in Mid-
summer 100
A Pearl Stream 113
Tent Shelter Hastily Erected 124
Tent and Poles 134
Tent and Trench 135
Prospectors and Cruisers in the Northwest 171
Bringing in Game 156


INTRODUCTION

[Image: Portrait of A. F. Wallace with signature]

Yours Truly
A F Wallace

_T_
O the men who follow the compass, the trap and
the trail this work is inscribed. It is not in-
tended for the "Professors" who can tell you all
about things after they are done (by somebody else).
Gen. Grant once had an old bridge builder who was su-
perintendent of his bridge building. Grant had to cross
his army over a river, sending for his Superintendent
of Bridges, who was a very practical old Irishman, he
told him what he wanted and that the plans would be
made ready by the engineer corps in a few days and
for Pat to have his men ready. Sending for Pat a few
days after, he told him that the plans were ready.
Pat's reply was that the bridge was done, whether the
plans were or not.

This little book is intended for the "Pats"-the
men who "Do Things." 

I would like to say to the readers of this little
work that in late years I have met a great many men
who wish for the knowledge contained in this book
and, inasmuch as it is a subject not taught in schools,

11 

and I have tried to find books on this subject; I have
searched libraries and publishers' lists, also looked
in stores and have not been able to find anything on
land cruising and nothing of any practical use to the
prospector in the field, all confusing terms and words
have been avoided.

This book is intended for a class of men I have
met who wish to obtain homesteads but lack the land
cruiser knowledge of finding them and usually em-
ploy a high-priced surveyor who perhaps knows lit-
tle more about it than the man himself, or he falls into
the hands of a land shark. Land is not so easy to
find now as it used to be. There are not whole coun-
ties of good land for one to go into and grab what
he wants, but there are lots of nice pieces of unoc-
cupied land where one can pick out a nice little farm
and home, if he only knows how, and there is no
reason whatever why a man with this work and a
good compass and map cannot do so if he has the
average horse sense. We consider this work cheap
to any man for $5.00 and no apologies to make.

A. F. WALLACE,

12

Land Cruising and
Prospecting

CHAPTER I.
MAPS.

The first thing for a hunter or trapper to
know if he is going to do anything in this line is
how to read a map, find the location of different
places, counties, towns, cities, rivers, railroads,
the points of the compass, etc., the top of a map
being always north. The next thing is to have a
good map both state and township, not the cheap
advertising maps but maps procured from some
party or firm with the base lines, principal me-
ridians and scale of miles on them; township
maps six miles square or fractions thereof repre-
senting the flats and surveys and general topog-
raphy. 

Maps of Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana,
Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota,
Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North and
South Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and
the Western States can now be furnished by the
writer of this book. They are photolithographic 

13

14 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. MAPS. 15

copies and cost from 50c to $1.00. If no photo-
lithographic is available a tracing will be made
of the township wanted in any of these states
for $1.50 and up, according to the size. The
maps are on a scale of two inches to the mile
and are very accurate.

A wall map of the United States is three
sheets, size 49x47 inches and scale 40 miles to
the inch can be furnished for $1.25, also one 18x
28 inches with contours, scale 111 miles to the
inch for 80c.

These are the proper maps for a cruiser as
they are very accurate and show the hills, moun-
tains and valleys, rivers and are very plain. In
sending for a township map you must give town-
ship and range number which will be found on
the state maps. 

We will assume we have a state map of Wis-
consin. The first thing to do is to find the base
line and principal meridians. All reliable maps
have these. Principal meridians are starting
points for all surveys and run north and south.
The range of the townships are numbered on this
line east and west. There are five principal me-
ridians in the United States besides Wilmet's
meridians for Washington and Oregon.

BASE LINES. These run east and west and
from the base lines townships are numbered
north and south. There are several and their
location is shown on all state maps, that are any
good. For example, we will take state map of
Wisconsin, which we have under consideration,
and look for the principal meridian. We will
find that it passes through, commencing at the
extreme end of the most westerly point of the
Northern Peninsula of Michigan, and runs due
south, leaving the state at a point due north of
Galena, Ill. The base line starts at about Still-
water, Minn., and runs due east to a point near
Marinette, Wis. The number of the principal
meridian is four or the fourth principal merid-
ian. They are all numbered in the different states
and in making inquiries about land, always give
the principal meridian and its number and the
range of the township line. This must be had in
order to find any particular township on the
map. We must also understand section corners,
quarter section corners, meander corners, wit-
ness corners and bearing trees.

SECTION CORNERS. These are monuments or
mounds placed by the government surveyors and
consist of mounds in the prairie placed at the
corners of each section and thrown up from four
pits, one pit on each section of land. In the
mound is placed a stone with as many notches
cut on the east and south side of it as the cor-
ner is miles from the township line. In timber
it consists of a stake about four feet long and
eight inches in diameter driven into the ground
at the intersection of the section lines. It is 

16
LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING.
MAPS.
17
faced on four sides and each face fronting to-
ward a section and bearing plainly cut on the
face the number of the section, the township and
range. The figures are sometimes traced in with
red paint or red chalk. The stakes are notched
the same as the stones in the mounds on the
prairie.

QUARTER SECTION LINES. These lines are
marked by monuments midway between section
lines. In prairie land it is mounds thrown up
from two pits by the United States surveyors,
one pit on each side of the section line, with a
stone in the mound, with these figures and this
letter cut on it-1-4-S, which means one-fourth
section corner. In a timbered country it is a
tree or a stake driven in the ground and hewn
on two sides facing the sections and the figures
and letter 1-4-S is cut on it.

BEARING TREES AND MOUNDS. Surveyors of-
ten use these where parties are liable to destroy
the originals-either from selfish motives or ac-
cident. The destroying of these mounds or trees
is punishable by law with fine or imprisonment
or both. They are stone mounds on the prairie
and trees or posts in the timber. For section
corners they are four in number and the trees
are usually located on the sections they repre-
sent and a spot is hewn off flat, facing the sec-
tion corner and on the flat surface is cut the
number of the section, township and range and
near the ground is cut the letters BT, meaning
Bearing Tree. For the quarter sections there
are two, usually located on the sections they
represent and are marked 1-4-S and the mark
faces the section, post or tree that is on the
corner.

MEANDER CORNERS. These are the same as
section corners with the exception that the posts
or stones are marked M. C. Also Witness Cor-
ners are the same as for section corners, the dif-
ference being that the posts or stones are
marked W. C.

Sometimes in the course of time bark grows
over the markings on trees and when marks are
found this way one must be careful in removing
the bark and not destroy the marks, and waen
digging into a mound after you are done put
things back as you found them. 

MEANDERING. When surveying streams and
small inland lakes, surveyors are often forced
to "meander." Meander corners are also used
where government surveyors run up against a
swamp, lake or large river they cannot cross,
then a meander corner is made showing which
way the surveyor went to get around the ob-
stacle. As above stated they are the same as
for section corners only M-C being used instead
of S-C and on the stone in the mound or on the
trees is marked M-C.

2

18 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. MAPS. 19

WITNESS CORNERS. These are used when the
true corner would come in a lake, river or im-
passable swamp. A section corner is made clos-
ing on one or more section lines at that point
and are the same as the one that should have
been on the true corner. They are the same as
section corners but are marked W-C instead of
S-C and as above stated take the place of the
true corner when it comes in a swamp, muskeg
or other place that is impassable.

TOWNSHIPS. For the novice I would recom-
mend that he consult the township diagram here
illustrated and numbered.

A township contains six square miles of land,
that is, it is six miles across each end of it and
contains thirty-six sections of six hundred and
forty (640) acres each. These sections are also
one mile square or a mile across each end and
are numbered from one to thirty-six. They are
again divided into four pieces containing one
hundred and sixty acres each. These are again
divided into four pieces containing forty acres
each. They are called sections, quarter section
and forties respectively. Marginal lots lie on
the north and west sides of townships and no
survey lines are run into the interior of sections
by the United States surveyors except meander
lines where they are necessary.

Bear in mind that 2000 single paces are one
mile but to save counting "cruisers" always use
double paces. These are called "cruising paces"
and the "cruising paces" will be used in this
book for all illustrations. Therefore 1000 paces
are one section or one mile, 500 are one-half

NORTH

| 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 |

S-C
36 ACRES
160
1-4-S-C
40
S-C

6 MILES

Township Diagram.

section and 250 are a quarter section. Paced
on a section line 60 paces are about one-fourth
of a forty, 80 about one-third and 160 about two-
thirds, all paced on the section lines, and there
are sixteen forties in one section of land.

All land cruisers carry a note-book ruled in 

20 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. 

three-inch squares or one section and these
three inch squares are subdivided into sixteen
squares or sixteen forties and the ability to keep
your pencil in the note-book into a position to
yourself on the section depends the accuracy of
your work. Section and quarter section corners
should be established in your book and your line
of travel should be in dotted lines. Also estab-
lish your witness corners and your meander cor-
ners, if you have to make any and ten or fifteen
paces are not considered bad mistakes.

Before leaving this subject of maps it would
be well for the young cruiser to understand some
of the signs and symbols used on maps. Grass
or meadow land are shown by tufts of grass
scattered over land thus:

[Image: Grass and Meadow Lands]

Grass and Meadow Lands. 

[Image: Cultivated Land]

Cultivated Land. 

MAPS. 21

[Image: Oak and Hardwood Land]

Oak and Hardwood Land. 

[Image: Pine and Spruce Land]

Pine and Spruce Land. 

[Image: Swamps]

Swamps.

[Image: Roads]

Roads. 

22 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. MAPS. 23

[Image: Towns]

Towns. 

These symbols are not shown on all maps. Even
some good accurate maps do not show them, but
if you wish to construct a map they are handy.

CONTOURS. These are much used on maps
and are very handy for the cruiser or prospector
as they show the height and the steepness of
hills and mountains, also the valleys. Contours
are thirty feet apart in height or straight up and
where they are far apart represent sloping land
and where close together high and steep. When
they bend in they represent a valley.

The upper sketch represents three hills, one
larger than the other. The lower sketch are con-
tours. It also shows their height and steepness.
They are very handy to tell how rough or smooth
land is.

These symbols are all very handy for a
cruiser or prospector as they show him what

[Image: Contours - Three Hills] 

150
120
90
60
30

Contours - Three Hills. 

[Image: Contours]

160 FT
120
90
60
30 FT

60
30 FT

Contours.

things are very valuable to the cruiser and miner
as well as to the hunter and trapper.

In looking over a piece of land to judge the
soil fairly accurate, oak, maple and poplar tim-
ber denote rich clay, no sand, and well drained;
popple, birch and brush denote increase of sand
and decrease of loam. Jack pine denotes sandy

24
LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING.

soil and subsoil. Norway pine denotes sand and
clay; elm and ash denote rich bottom lands and
poor drainage, taken by the large pine land is no
good, the real estate man to the contrary not-
withstanding. I have never seen any that you
could raise a fight on with a barrel of Indian
whiskey. It is well to examine upturned roots
of trees and mounds made by gophers for sub-
soil. In prairie land you will find crab holes and 

[Image: Streams and Lake]

Streams and Lake.

a mound beside them. Examine these mounds
for top and subsoil.

As a general thing the tops of ridges are thin
and poor and in some parts of the country they
are bare and rocky, while the valleys may be
good farming land. If you are looking for a
claim or homestead on government land, be sure
of the rainfall, especially so in the western
states. This can be found in the reports of the
weather signal service, also the highest and low-
est temperature. Address Department of Agri-
culture, Washington, D. C. 

CHAPTER II.
THE COMPASS.

The compass is the "whole thing" in looking
up land or locating a mineral claim. Without
this little instrument we could do absolutely
nothing. It is simple but very sensitive. It is
no more than a sharp steel post on which is
pivoted a flat steel needle which is magnetized.
This needle swings over a dial made of brass or
enamel and it will always point north and south
no matter how much you scrap with it and say it
is wrong.

One end of the needle is colored blue and this
blue end always points north and for very strong
reasons it is a good plan to take the sharp point
of your pocket-knife and scratch on the bottom
of your compass "Blue points North." I will
have more to say on this subject later under head
of "getting lost."

It is not necessary to pay a big price for a
compass, a fairly good one can be bought for
$8.50 to $16.00. The small pocket compasses are
useless to survey land with, although they are
all right for what they are intended, to work
your way out of the woods in case you are lost,
but for running long accurate lines they are not 

25

26 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. THE COMPASS. 27

intended. The writer of this book has brought
out a compass which is a modification of the U.
S. A. Cavalry Scouts Compass, is very light and
compact and strong. Long accurate lines can be
run with it and the inventor hopes to be able
to sell it for about $3.00.

The average compass bought from a store
dealing in them should have a jewel mounted
needle not less than 14 inches long and an en-
ameled or brass dial with eight graduations,
N-E-S and W, also NE-SW and NW and SE.
The compass must be equipped with good simple
sights; it should always be level, when taking a
sight care being taken not to let either end of
the needle touch the glass.

It should be carried in a good harness leather
case with a strap to hang over the shoulder and
incidentally always hang any compass up, don't
lay it on the ground either in the field or in
camp. When taking a sight don't have any guns,
axes or other iron or steel close to it. It is a
good plan to have your harness leather sheath
made large enough to carry your note book in,
in order to keep it dry.

In addition to your large compass it is well
to carry a small, cheap pocket compass so if
anything happens to your large compass you can
find your way out with the small one. Don't let
your compass get wet. If it shows damp under
the glass, dry it out as it is useless if wet or
damp. Dry it with a gentle heat for if it gets
too hot it destroys the magnetism in the needle.

Now the needle of the compass seldom or
never points to the true north and south. On
the Pacific Coast the needle will swing to the
east of true north and on the Atlantic Coast
it will swing west of the true north. This is
called the magnetic variation. The true north is
called the true meridian and this true meridian
must be found before you start work on any job
of surveying, and in the same locality that you
are going to run your lines.

This true meridian is found by the sun, also
by the north or polar star. If you have a good
watch, which every cruiser or prospector should
have, and it is set right, this is easily done. Thus
on a level, clean bit of ground, find the north by
your compass and lean a pole toward the north
resting it in a crotch made of two sticks as shown
in the cut. Suspend a weight from the end of
the pole so it nearly touches the ground. Then
at 11 a. m. attach a string to a peg driven di-
rectly under the weight and with a sharpened
stick attached to the other end of the string,
describe an arc of a circle with a radius equal
to the distance from the peg to the shadow of
the tip of the pole.

Now drive a peg on the arc of the circle
where the shadow of the tip of the pole rested.
About 1 p. m. watch the shadow of the tip of the 

28 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. THE COMPASS. 29

pole as it approaches the eastern side of the arc
and drive another peg at the point where it
crosses the arc. Then by means of a tape line,
stick or string, find the middle point of the
straight line joining the last two pegs mentioned.
A straight line joining this middle point and the
peg under the weight will be the true north and
south. On a true meridian if a distant object,
such as a pole be placed so as to prolong this line
one has only to go to it and sight his compass

[Image: True North and South]

WEIGHT
PEG

PEG
TRUE NORTH

PEG

True North and South.

back on the tip of his incline pole in order to
get the variation of the compass needle from the
true meridian or true north. The needle may
be a few degrees east or west of your line of
sight but whatever it is a note must be made of
it and use this variation when running a line in
this district.

The above cut shows how to take the true
north and south by the sun. The true north and
south can also be found by the north or polar
star at night. It is a fairly bright star and is
nearly in line with the two stars that form the 

side of the dipper farthest from the handle
and looking from the bottom of the dipper.
When these two stars are in line either above
or below the north star, hang two lines with
weights attached in line with the north star
and the two stars above mentioned. The lines

NORTH STAR
*

*
*
*
*
*

BIG DIPPER

should be twelve or fifteen feet apart and a
light of some kind will have to be used. This
line can be prolonged by daylight and your com-
pass sighted and the variation noted.

The above cut shows north star, also the big
dipper and the relation of the lines to the stars
in the dipper.

CHAPTER III.
EXAMINING AND LOCATING.

[Image: Northern Pine Forests]

We will assume for an illustration that you
are hunting or cruising or running a line of
traps and you run across a piece of land or a
piece of pine that "looks good" to you but you
don't know where it is, or rather its location or
your location on the map. You are standing
looking at it and that's all the good it will do you
if you can't find it, and also yourself, on the
map.

Perhaps you have sent to the H-T-T and got
a list of unoccupied government land in every
county in the western states, and I want to say
here that the list is accurate. Perhaps you have
selected a county in some state where the cli-
mate is congenial to you or you think the trap-
ping good, also the hunting, prospecting or tim-
ber, and you have sent to the land office for that
district and got a plat of the township and per-
haps several.

I will say in passing that you won't know
what plats to send for even if you can't locate
the land on the map, for, in sending you must
give the range and township number, so there
you are, and mind you these plats only show the

30

32 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. EXAMINING AND LOCATING. 33

occupied land and not the vacant land you want.
You can look at these plats until you are cross-
eyed for all the good they do you. Or, perhaps
you have met some settler and made inquiries.
How do you know that they have told you the
truth?

I once asked an American citizen of Swedish
descent in regard to some government land that
I had a suspicion was near where he was located
and his answer was, "I tank thair no government
land hayre." When to my certain knowledge
there were thousands of acres, not all good land
of course, but with some nice spots of from forty
to a hundred acres that were firstclass farming
land and several good cranberry marshes.

Now right here is where the timber cruiser
or land looker steps in and if you are on to
your job you can look these people in the eye and
tell them to go to that place where they are not
troubled with snow or ice, also tell the pine land
sharks the same. We will assume you are equip-
ped with a good compass and maps of the sec-
tion you are exploring. The first thing you want
to know is to find where you are, so the first
thing you will do is to find a section corner and
if you find one right away that is in good order,
well and good. You will look on the post and
find, for an illustration, these letters and figures
cut in the face, R 47-T 7-W, which means to the
old cruiser Range 47, Township 7, West. 

We will now take out map (remember for an
illlstration we are using a state map of Wiscon-
sin) find the principal meridian and the No. 47
on it. Now we will find the base line and trace it
west from the point where it crosses the prin-
cipal meridian until we come to the figure 7 on
the seventh row of township. Now we will trace
this line with our finger north or toward the
top of the map until we come to the intersection
of Range 47 and at this point is the exact location
of that section corner and the exact spot in this
world you are standing on. On our section cor-
ner post we will also find the letter and number
S 15, which means section 15. We have now got
our township and section number and we will
take our plat of this township, find section 15
and look things over.

We find a railroad runs through the middle
of the township and there is a station named
Spider near the center, also about nine miles
west and four or five miles north is the town of
Iron river, also we note that this land is in Bay-
field Co., also in the little pamphlet the H-T-T
sent of unoccupied land, that this county has
5,880 acres of unoccupied government land and
the U. S. land office is at Wausau, Wis. Now
all we have to do is to write to the land office
and ask them for a printed application blank,
giving him the number of the section or quar-

3 
34 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. EXAMINING AND LOCATING. 35

ter township and range, and saying, we wish
to file on this piece of land, and the land agent
will do the rest.

Now, we will take another example that is
not so easy. I looked for a section corner three
days once to locate a quarter section of pine
timber. All around this piece of pine it had
been burned over by a severe forest fire, and
all the section corner marks were gone and
the quarter section marks as well. The land
around my piece of pine land was covered with
a rank growth of brush. In knocking around
I came to the conclusion that due south was the
best way out into old timber, where I could run
onto a section corner or quarter section corner.
I cleared a place in the brush, set and leveled
my compass, took a look thru the sights and
lined with an old burned tree trunk. Taking
our pack sack and compass we paced about 100
paces to our stub tree, setting our compass again
and taking a line thru my sights I connected
with another old stub, and it was 150 paces to
this one, making 250 paces or one forty. I here
made a quarter section post (not a corner, as
I was running a random line) and noted this
in my notebook on a dotted line.

I kept on this way until I had gone 1,000
cruising paces and knew I was one mile due
south of my starting point. I here put a mark
on a stub and lopped down a lot of brush around
it as I had done previously and cut an X on the
stub to distinguish it from my other random
corners. I ran this line this way for six miles
and came up against a tamarack swamp. I saw
that I had to meander either east or west to get
around this swamp, so I made a random meander
corner by cutting M-C on a fine stub and lopping
down some more brush.

By the lay of the land I concluded I would
get into old timber by meandering due east. Set-
ting my compass and taking a line I ran three
miles or 3,000 paces, blazing my line every
forty or every 250 paces and noting it in my
book on my dotted line and ran into another
tamarack swamp. After thinking the matter
over, the next morning, we back trailed due
west to our old meander corner of the day before
and ran a random line seven miles west in the
same manner as our other lines and got into old
timber at last.

After looking around a while we found an
old post with these letters cut on it, 1-4-S, which
showed me it was a quarter section corner. On
looking around again we found two trees with
the bark partly grown over a flat surface cut
on the tree. We carefully cut off the bark and
found the letters B-T, which meant "bearing
tree," and we knew it was on a quarter section
corner and by running a line one half mile or

36 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. EXAMINING AND LOCATING. 37

500 cruising paces north or south we would
strike a section corner.

We did so, running north, and found no sec-
tion corner and made one, noting it in our book
as usual. (I will say here in passing that it is
an unwritten law among the better class of
cruisers to establish or repair a section or quar-
ter section corner). We now ran a line 1000
paces, or a mile, due north again and found a
good corner, bearing trees and all. On the post
and bearing trees were cut the letters and figures
R-32-T-2-W which we knew meant Range 32,
Township line No. 2, west. 

We now took our state map, found our prin-
cipal meridian, found the Range No. 32 on it.
We now found our base line and traced it west
until we found the figure 2, then north up the
map until we came to the range line 32 and
found we were in Taylor Co. We also found S-9
cut on the post, which told us it was Section
No. 9. We now referred to our township plats
and found we were on the northwest corner of
it and about five and a half miles northeast of
a place called Perkinstown and that the Yellow
River ran thru the northwest corner of the town-
ship, also that there was a railroad about eleven
miles east of us.

We also found that we had to resurvey some
of this country in order to locate our piece of
pine timber we were after, inasmuch as it was
burned over land and all section corners were
destroyed. This we could easily do, as we had
only to refer to our sketch in our notebook for
the lines we had run to bring us into our present
position. We found we had run six miles due
south to our meander corner where we ran into
the first swamp, then three miles due east and
got up against our second swamp. Then back
to our meander corner, then seven miles due
west and found the old quarter section post
partly destroyed. Then one mile north to our
present position.

From our sketch we found we were seven
miles west and one and a half miles north on
our random line we had run at first. Now by
traveling seven miles west would bring us back
to our random line. So setting our compass
on the exact section corner, we started running
our line due west, pacing 250 paces and select-
ing one of our three-inch squares or a section,
in our notebook we checked a forty, and so on
until we had struck our random line, then north
to our pine (all the time keeping our pencil in
the notebook in a position to ourselves on the
sections). We found on comparing our notebook
with our township plats that our pine was in
range 33, township 3, west, section 17 and the
southwest corner forty and this finished our job.

Before starting on this trip we found the
true meridian by the sun and noted the variation 

38 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. EXAMINING AND LOCATING. 39

[Image: Locating a Section Corner]

NORTH

XX
XXX
R-33-T-3-W-S-17
NO POINT
O
X
.
.
.
.
.
.
4
M:C
.
.
.
4
S-C
.
.
.
3
OS-C-DESTROYED
R-32-T-2-W-S-9
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
1OSC
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
00000000000000
1000+
PACES
PARTLY D
DESTROYED
XXXX
XX
.
X PINE LAND
XX
.
.
1000 PACES = 1 MILE

O-SECTION CORNERS
• QUARTER SECTION CORNERS
----- LINE OF TRAVEL
* STARTING POINTS

Locating a Section Corner. 

on our compass. The above is a small sketch of
our trip and will show the young cruiser the
trouble he will have in finding his first section
corner sometimes. The state map of Wisconsin
we have used will apply to any state and I will
state here that if you can find one section corner
in this United States you can find any other piece
of land that has been surveyed by Uncle Sam,
no matter if the section corner is in Florida and
your land is in Alaska you can find the land and
locate it if you have the time and a good
compass. 

ONE INCH-FOUR MILES

ARROWS SHOW LINE OF TRAVEL

SWAMP

HARDWOOD LAND

EARLY SURVEYS. 41

CHAPTER IV.
EARLY SURVEYS.

The cruiser will, in looking up land, find
corners and posts that do not have to do with
his work in finding land, that is directly, and
we will here explain them - how they came
there and what they are there for.

CORRECTION LINES. To correct the conver-
gency of the meridians as they approach the
north pole, correction lines are run every 24
miles north and south of the base lines. They
also serve to correct errors that may have been
made on the principal meridian.

GUIDE MERIDIANS. Guide meridians are lines
connecting the base lines and correction lines
at intervals of 48 miles. They start on the base
line and close on the first correction line. The
convergency of the meridian being here cor-
rected, they start anew on this line and close on
the second correction line and so on all parts
marking the closing lines. These corners are
made same as section corners but marked C-C,
meaning closing corners, and the marking of the
starting points north are called and marked
S-C or standard corner. These two corners are
sometimes called double corners.

40

FRAME WORK. Principal Meridians, Base
Lines, Correction Lines and Guide Meridians
form the frame work of our land surveys in
tracts 24 x 48 miles in size and then this frame-
work is laid out into township sections and
quarter sections and the corners and the proper
posts established, the townships running east
and west and the range running north and south.
I mention this in passing so the young cruiser
will understand the closing corners and frame-
work of our U. S. land system, which he will
have little to do with in looking up land, but
still will meet with the corners and double posts
and get puzzled by them. We will have more
to say later on double corners or posts. 

MARGINAL LOTS. Townships, on account of
the convergency of the meridians as above
stated, are seldom six miles square and the
excess or deficiency are always thrown into the
last 20 chains on the north and west side of
the township and this makes the fractional 40
acre tracts and are called "lots" and are num-
bered consecutively in each section separately.
The numbers, areas, length in chains and links
of boundaries of these lots are always given on
the township plats and diagrams, whichever
you buy from the U. S. land office - plats are the
best, altho they cost a little more.

The hunter, trapper or cruiser who has set-
tled on a piece of land in a new country is fre- 

42 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. EARLY SURVEYS. 43

quently called on to establish lost corners or to
locate other settlers on their claims as well as
real estate dealers who buy land. These people
could not find their own land any more than
the man in the planet Mars, even if they do own
it, and the cruiser can turn many an honest
penny at this business at from $5.00 to $15.00
per day. If you are called upon to establish
lost corners Uncle Sam is very particular and
has his rules to go by and you must go by them
or your work wont stand law. As the work has
to be done by surveyors' measure and only links
and chains are used at that, it is well for the
cruiser to understand it, also how it compares
with linear measure, as yards, inches and feet.
One link is 7-92/100 inches; one chain is 100
links or 66 feet or 22 yards; 80 chains or 1,760
yards are a mile; 1,000 double or cruiser paces
are one mile (approximately) and it is esti-
mated that the average pace is 30 inches.

We have already shown how to find one's
self on the map, also your land, but if you are
to do any new or original work for any settler
or the town authorities, you will have to pro-
ceed differently.

In the first place procure the field notes of the
original survey or the United States survey and
make sure of this. Under an old law some of
these have been transferred to the state author-
ities to whom application will have to be made
for such copies of the original plats and field
notes as you may need.

For Alabama, apply to Secretary of State,
Montgomery.

For Arkansas apply to Commissioner State
Lands, Little Rock.

For Illinois, apply to Auditor of State,
Springfield.

For Indiana, apply to Auditor of State, In-
dianapolis.

For Iowa, apply to Secretary of State, Des
Moines.

For Kansas, apply to Auditor of State and
Register of State Lands, Topeka. 

For Michigan, apply to Commissioner of
State Land Office, Lansing.

For Mississippi, apply to Commissioner of
State Lands, Jackson.

For Missouri, apply to Secretary of State,
Jefferson City.

For Nebraska, apply to Commissioner of
Public Lands and Buildings, Lincoln. 

For Ohio, apply to Auditor of State, Colum-
bus.

For Wisconsin, apply to Commissioner Pub-
lic Land, Madison.

In other Public Land States the original
field notes and plats are still retained in the of-
fice of the Surveyors General, Washington, D.

44 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. EARLY SURVEYS. 45

C., to whom you must apply for such plats and
notes as you need. Get them, put them in your
pocket and keep your mouth shut for these orig-
inals hold over everything, even if they are
wrong. It has been so decided by the U. S. Su-

[Image: Section Corner Mound]

        N

    PIT    PIT

W      POST     E

    PIT    PIT

        S

Section Corner Mound.

preme Court. Now here is what your township
corners, section corners and quarter section cor-
ners must look like if properly made and they
must certainly be made so or not at all, for
Uncle Sam is a very strict boss although a very
just one.

[Image: Township Corner Mound]

            N

           PIT

W PIT  |   POST  |  PIT E

           PIT
           S

Township Corner Mound.

feet deep and be rammed with earth and stone,
If any are at hand. The portion of the post that
is above ground must be squared off smooth
enough to receive the marks which are to be
made by marking irons indicating what the post
stands for. The sides of the township posts

*Law passed in 1864 and still operative.

46 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. EARLY SURVEYS. 47

should square four inches and must not be under
two feet above ground. The sides of the section
corner posts should square three inches. The
quarter section posts and meander corner posts
should be three inches wide and be flattened on

[Image: Corner Posts]

NO.1.
4 S

Section Corner
Post. 

NO.2
RTS
SE

Quarter Section Corner
Post.

Corner Posts.

NO.3.
R
T
S
NE

Township Corner
Post." 

two sides and all to be two feet above ground at
least. 

TOWNSHIP CORNER POST. A post, common
to four corners should be set on the corner as
shown in Fig. 1 i. e., diagonally. On each sur-
face of the post is to be marked the number of
the particular township and its range which it
faces. These are not only to be distinctly but
also neatly cut in the wood at least one-eighth
inch deep and red chalk applied to all marks.

SECTION CORNER POSTS. Posts of this kind
are to be the same as township corner posts
where they represent four section corners and
are to be marked, the number of the section on
the flat surface faces, also on one side are to be
marked the number of its township and range
and the figures and letters to be marked in with
red chalk.

Figure 2 represents a mound common to two
townships or two sections only and lettered and
numbered for the township - it faces on the sec-
tion. In every township there are twenty-five
four section corner mounds as per Fig. 1, the
rest being as per Fig. 2. A quarter section post
is to have no other mark but 1/4 S or quarter
Nection. 

NOTCHING CORNER POSTS. Township corner
posts common to four townships are to be
notched with six notches on each of the four
edges of the square as per Fig. 3. (Hence you
can always tell when you are on a township
line, both by the size of the post and its notches.)
All mile or section corner posts on township
lines must have as many notches cut into the two
opposite angle edges as they are distant in miles
from the township corners. Each of the posts at
the corners of interior sections of a township 

48 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. EARLY SURVEYS. 49

must indicate by its notches on four edges* di-
rected or looking to its cardinal points, the cor-
responding number of miles it stands from the
outlines or edges of the township lines (Fig. 2)
the four faces of the post will indicate by figures
and letters the number of the section they face.
Should a tree be found at the place of any cor-
ner it will be notched and numbered as above
and the kind of a tree and its diameter given in
the field notes of the surveyor.

BEARING TREES. The position of all corner
posts or trees of whatever description that may
be established is to be evidence in the following
manner, from such post or tree the course must
be taken and the distance measured to two or
more trees in opposite directions as nearly as
may be, and these are called "Bearing Trees."
They are to be distinguished by a large smooth
blaze and a notch at its lower end facing the
corner. In the blaze is to be marked the num-
ber of the range, township and section, but at a
quarter section corner only 1/4 S need be
marked. The letters B-T (Bearing Tree) are to
be marked on a smaller blaze directly under the
large one and near the ground as practical.

At all township corners and at all section
corners on range or township lines, four bearing
trees are to be marked in this manner. Each
in one of the adjoining sections, at interior sec-

*Two edges since 1864 and four edges before '64.

tion corners, four trees, one to stand within the
four sections, as above, are to be marked in the
same manner if such can be found. A tree sup-
plying a corner post is to be marked in the
same manner as for posts, but if the tree be a
beech tree or other smooth bark tree the marks
may be made on the bark and the tree notched.
For quarter sections and meander corners two
bearing trees are to be marked, one within each
of the adjoining sections.

CHAPTER V. 
CORNER MARKS.

CORNER STONES. Wherever it is deemed best
to use stones for boundaries instead of posts,
surveyors or cruisers may at any corner insert
edgewise in the ground to the depth of 7 or 8
inches a stone, the number of cubic inches in
which shall not be less than the number con-
tained in a stone 14 inches long and 12 inches
wide, 3 inches thick, equal to about 504 cubic
inches, the edges of which must set north and
south, on north and south lines and east and
west, on east and west lines. The dimensions
of each stone, also the kind of stone to be given
in the field notes.. 

MARKING CORNER STONES. Stones at town-
ship corners common to four townships must
have six notches cut with a pick or chisel on each
edge or side toward the cardinal points and
where used as section corners on the range or
township lines or as section corners. In the
interior of a township they will also be notched
to correspond with the direction given for notch-
ing posts similarly situated. Posts or stones at
township corners on the base and standard lines
and which are common to two townships on the

50

CORNER MARKS. 51

north side thereof, will have six notches on each
of the west, north and east edges and where such
stones or posts are set for corners to two town-
ships south of the base line, six notches will be
cut on each of the west, south and east edges.
Stones used for quarter section corners will
have simply 1/4 cut on them, on the west side
on north and south lines and on the north side
for east and west lines.

[Image: Corner Stones]

NO. 1
------
|    |
|    |
|----|
|    |
|    |
------

Township
Corner Stone. 

NO.2
------
|    |
|    |
|----|
|    |
|    |
------

Section
Corner Stone. 

NO.2
------
|    |
|    |
|----|
|    |
|    |
------
4 S

Quarter Section
Corner Stone.

NO.3
------
|    |
|    |
|----|
|    |
|    |
------

Section
Corner Stone. 

Corner Stones. 

MOUNDS. Where bearing trees are not found
mounds of earth or stone are to be raised around
the posts on which the corners are to be marked
In the manner aforesaid. Wherever a mound of
earth is adopted the same will present a conical
shape. Prior to piling up the earth to construct
a mound, there is to be dug a spadeful or two
of earth from the corner and in the cavity so
formed is to be deposited a marked stone or a
portion of charcoal, the quantity to be noted in
the field book. In lieu of stone or charcoal, a 

52 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. CORNER MARKS. 53

charred stake is to be driven twelve inches down
into such center point.

Either of these will be a witness for the
future and which ever is done, the fact must be
noted in the field notes. When the mounds are
made of earth the spot from which the earth is
taken is called the pit, the center of which ought
to be at a uniform distance and in a uniform
direction from the center of the mound. There
is to be a pit on each side of every mound.

At meander corners the pit is to be directly
on the line 8 links (about 5 1/2 feet) further
from the water than the mound. Whenever it
is necessary to deviate from this rule in regard
to pits it must be so stated in the field notes.
Long life is what is desired in a mound and in
making it of light soil, make allowance for set-
tling and make the base larger and in doing this
keep the township mounds larger than the sec-
tion mounds and the section mounds larger than
the quarter section mounds. Press or tramp
down the earth and cover with sod, grass up,
when sod can be had and never mix sod with
the dirt for the sod will rot and make the mound
porous and spoil it.

POSTS IN MOUNDS must show above ground
ten or twelve inches and be marked same as they
would be for a corner without a mound.

WITNESS MOUNDS TO TOWNSHIP OR SECTION
CORNERS. If a township or section corner in a 

situation where bearing or witness trees are not
found in a reasonable distance and the corner
should fall unfavorably to the erection of a
mound, you will select in the immediate vicinity
a suitable piece of ground for a "Witness"
mound or corner and erect thereon a mound of
earth in the same manner and conditioned in
every respect with charcoal, stone or charred
stick deposited as before directed and measure
and state in your field notes the distance and
course, from the position of the true corner of
the bearing or witness mound so placed and
erected.

DOUBLE CORNERS. Double corners are to be
nowhere except on the base and standard lines
whereon are to appear both the corners which
mark the intersecting of the lines which close
thereon and those from which the surveys start
on the north. On these lines and at the time of
running the same, the township, section and
quarter section corners are to be planted and
each of these is a corner common to two (wheth-
er township or section corners) on the north
side of the line and must be so marked.

The corners that are established on the
standard parallel at the time of running it are
to be known as "Standard Corners" (see page 40
under "Guide Meridians") and in addition to
all the ordinary marks as herein prescribed they
will be marked with the letters S-C. Closing

54 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. CORNER MARKS. 55

corners will be marked with the letters C-C in
addition to the other marks. You will remem-
ber that the corners (whether township or sec-
tion) which are common to two townships or
two sections are not to be planted diagonally
like those which are common to four, but with
their flat sides facing the cardinal points and on
which the marks and notches are made as usual.
This, it will be perceived will serve to distinguish
the standard parallels from all other lines.

The following instructions to Surveyors have
been issued since June 1st, 1864, by the Interior
Department and still hold good.

POSTS IN MOUNDS. All posts in mounds will
hereafter be planted or driven into the ground
twelve inches at the precise corner point and
the charcoal marked stone or charred stake re-
quired will be deposited twelve inches below the
surface and against the north side of the post
when the surveyor is running north and against
the west side when the surveyor is running west,
etc.

TOWNSHIP MOUNDS. Mounds of this kind
will be 5 feet in diameter at their base and 2 1/2
feet in perpendicular height. Posts in township
mounds are therefore required to be 4 1/2 feet
long so as to allow 12 inches to project above the
mound. Mounds at section, quarter section and
meander corners will be 4 1/2 feet in diameter
at their base and 2 1/2 feet in perpendicular 

height, the post being 4 feet in length, leaving
twelve inches to project above the mound.

PITS. These should be of uniform dimen-
sions. The pits for a township mound will be
18 inches wide, two feet in length and at least
12 inches deep, located six feet from the posts.
At all section corners the pits are 18 inches
quare and not less than 12 inches deep. At
township corners common to four townships the
pits will be dug on the lines and lengthwise to
them. On base and standard lines where the
corners are common to only two townships or
sections three pits only will be dug - two in line
on either side of the post and one on the line
north or south of the corner, as the case may
be. By this means the standard and closing cor-
ners will be readily distinguished from each
other. 

NOTCHING SECTION CORNER POSTS. Posts or
stones at the corners of sections in the interior
of townships will have as many notches on the
south and east edges as there are miles from the
south and east boundaries of the townships, in-
stead of being notched on all four edges. (Bear
In mind this is for the interior of townships). 

MARKING CORNERS IN REGIONS REMOTE FROM
TIMBER AND DESTITUTE OF STONE. By orders of
The Interior Department of July 24th, 1873, sur-
veys of such land are marked thus: In addition
to the manner of establishing corners of Public

56 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 57

Surveys by mounds of earth with deposits or ma-
terial at the point of the corner, surveyors are
required to drive in the center of one of the pits
on each section of the township corner, sawed
or when stakes not less than two inches square
and two feet in length. These stakes to be
marked in the manner heretofore prescribed for
marking corner posts and to be driven one foot
in the ground at corners common to four town-
ships. The stakes are to be driven in the pits
east of the mound and at corners common to
four sections. The stakes are to be driven in
the pit southeast of the mound and at corners
common to two townships or sections they are
to be driven in the pit east of the corner. This
requirement does not apply to quarter section
corners.

BEARING TREES. Where a tree can be found
not less than 2 1/2 inches in diameter for a bear-
ing tree within 300 links of the corner, it should
be preferred to the pit.

CHAPTER VI.
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 

MEANDERING NAVIGABLE STREAMS. Standing
with the face looking down stream, the bank on
the left hand is termed the left bank and on the
right hand the right bank. The terms are used
to distinguish the banks of a stream. Both
banks of a navigable river are meandered by
taking the course and distance of their windings.
At these points where either the township or
section lines intersect the banks of a navigable
stream posts, or where necessary, mounds of
earth or stones are established, called "Meander
Corners." Rivers are deemed navigable waters
where they can be used as highways of com-
merce between states. 

The right of a grantee of land bordering on
a navigable river stops with the bank of a stream
though he may construct landings or wharves.
New states have the same rights and jurisdiction
over navigable streams as the original states.
The state has rights and sovereignty over ground
that was part of the bed of a meandered, navi-
gable stream at the time of her admission and
The public land laws do not apply to it subse-
quently.

57

58 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. 59

It will be seen by this that a trapper can hold
his rights on any navigable stream between the
banks and in other cases of non-navigable
streams the state controls from bank to bank and
not the abutting land owner. In states where
there are game laws, fur, fin and feather be-
long to the state, no matter how much the
farmer "lows you have no right thar." If your
traps are in the water no one can molest them
but a state officer after due process of law. You
can even drive stakes across a stream, setting
traps at openings and tell the abutting land
owner to go to --, if you can get to them by
boat, and if he molests them, get a warrant out
for him as you have as much right between the
banks as he or any one else has.

HOW TO SUBDIVIDE SECTIONS. The course to
be pursued in the subdivision of sections is to
run straight lines from the established quarter
section corners, (U. S. Surveys) to the opposite
corresponding corners and the point of inter-
section of lines so run will be the common corner
to the several quarter sections, or, in other words
the legal center of the section. In the subdi-
vision of fractional sections where no opposite
corresponding corners have been or can be fixed
the subdivision lines should be ascertained by
running from the established corners due north,
south, east and west lines, as the case may be,
to the water course, Indian boundary line or any

other external boundary of such fractional sec-
tion.

The law presupposes the section lines sur-
veyed and marked in the field by the U. S. sur-
veyors to be due north and south, east and west
lines but in actual experience this is not the
case. In order to carry out the spirit of the law
it will be necessary in running sub-divisional
lines through fractional sections to adopt the
mean course where the section lines are not due
lines or to run the subdivision line parallel to
the section line where there is no opposite sec-
tion line upon the lines closing on the north and
west boundaries of a township.

The quarter section corners are established
by the U. S. surveyor at precisely 40 chains to
the north or west of the last interior section cor-
ner and the excess or the deficiency of the
measurement is thrown on the outer tier of lots
as per act of Congress May 10th, 1800. In this
subdivision of quarter sections the quarter sec-
tion corners are to be placed at points equidis-
tant between the section and quarter section
corners and between the quarter corners and the
common center of the section, except on the last
half mile of the lines closing on the north or
west boundaries of the township where they
should be placed 20 chains (original measure-
ment) to the north or west of the quarter sec-
tion corner. 

MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 61

[Image: Scene in a Promising New Section.]

Scene in a Promising New Section.

The subdivision lines of fractional quarter
sections should be run from points on the section
lines intermediate between the section and
quarter section corners due north, south, east or
west to the lake watercourse or reservation
which renders such tracts fractional when there
are double sets of section corners on township
and range lines.* The quarter corners for the
sections south and east of the lines are not es-
tablished in the field by the U. S. surveyors, but
in the subdividing of such sections said quarter
corners should be so placed as to suit the calcu-
lations of the areas of the quarter sections ad-
joining the township boundaries as expressed on
the official plat, adopting a proportional mea-
surement where the present measurement of the
north or west boundaries of the section differs
from the original measurement.

If the cruiser is called upon to restore lost
or obliterated corners it is well for him to know
that Uncle Sam has his rules for that as well as
for new work and here is the way he will have
to proceed to restore a township corner common
to four townships — usually two cases will be
found. First. Where the position of the orig-
inal township corner has been made to depend
upon measurements on two lines at right angles
to each other. Second. Where the original cor-
ner has been located by measurements on one 

*See page 52. 

62 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 63

line only. In the first case a line will first be
run correcting the nearest identified original
corners on the meridian township lines north
and south of the missing corner and a temporary
corner will be placed at the proper distance.
This will determine the corner in a north and
south direction only.

Next find the nearest original corners on the
latitudinal (N & S) township lines and correct
them and place another temporary corner as you
did on your meridian line and independent of it.
Then, through your first temporary corner run
a line north or south as the case demands and
where the lines cross or intersect will be the po-
sition of the township corner which you may now
permanently establish. 

To restore a lost corner established on one
line, for instance, a guide meridian, this will be
done by proportionate measurement. By pro-
portionate measurement is measurement having
the same ratio to that recorded in the original
field notes (which always have with you), as the
length of a chain used in the new measurement
has to be the length of a chain used in the old
or original survey, assuming that both old and
new measurements have been correctly made. 

In doing this work or new work the cruiser
should have a good compass with sights at least
six inches apart. A common pocket compass is
useless for this kind of work — not but what they 

are all right for what they are intended for,
i. e., to find your way out of the woods, but they
are not intended to run long accurate lines with,
neither can you do so with them.

It is well for the cruiser to know the law and
penalties for destroying corner monuments, etc.

Chapter 398.29 U. S. Statutes, page 343, ap-
proved June 10th, 1896, That hereafter it shall
be unlawful for any person to destroy, deface,
change or remove to another place any section
corner, quarter section corner, or meander post
or any government line of survey, or to cut down
any witness tree or any tree blazed to make the
line of a government survey, or to deface, change
or remove any monument or bench mark of any
government survey and any person who shall
offend against any of the provisions of this para-
graph will be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor
and upon conviction in any court shall be fined
not to exceed $250.00 and be imprisoned not
more than one hundred days. All fines oc-
curring to be paid into the U. S. treasury and
the informer in each conviction shall be paid
$5.00. 

Some things that the hunter and trapper
should remember in looking up land:

Don't buy railroad land and speculator's
land, when there is lots of government land, if
you only wish to "cruise it out."

64 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 65

That north of 45 degrees north latitude it is
no good for corn.

That wheat, oats, barley, flax do better north
of 45 degrees.

That it is too cold for stock north of 45 de-
grees, but if you are in a good grass country
cattle and horses will pay, but must be fed over
winter. 

That there is more money in a good cran-
berry marsh and fur than most people think. 

That the railroad will eat up your profits if
you aren't careful and the commission men take
what is left. Keep away from commission men
if you can.

In states bordering on Canada trapping can
begin about November 1. Skunk and marten
are the first to get prime. 

That west of the Missouri river you must ir-
rigate as the rainfall is too light - no matter
what the land sharps tell you, but it is wet 

enough on the Pacific side of the Cascade range
of mountains.

That it is not good policy to take any man's
word about land - see it for yourself.

When "cruising" carry light but strong
traps - the No. 1 Newhouse will hold most small
animals.

There is yet much government land in the
Northwest, West, South and Southwest. Ex-
amine carefully before locating, taking the va-
rious advantages and disadvantages into consid-
eration.

The growing of medicinal roots - ginseng,
golden seal, etc. - can be followed while "holding
down" a homestead.

Don't shoot until you know what it is - others
may be prospecting - for many men have been
killed thus. 

Game laws are constantly changing so that it
is advisable to have the latest copies.

5

66 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. POINTS FOR HOMESTEADERS. 67

Crops may fail but there has always been a
cash market for furs as well as medicinal roots,
when cruising keep your eye open for these.
The A. R. Harding Publishing Co., Columbus,
Ohio, publish books on trapping, also one on
Ginseng and other Medicinal Roots. It will pay
you to send for circular describing them.

Prospecting in the Central West means look-
ing up pearl signs as well as fur, as many of
the rivers in Iowa, Nebraska, Arkansas, Illinois,
Indiana, etc., contain pearls.

CHAPTER VII.
POINTS FOR HOMESTEADERS.

Persons desiring to make homestead entries
should fully inform themselves as to the char-
acter and quality of the land they wish to lo-
cate and cannot enter it until they have visited
and examined it. You will have to make oath
to this. Information in regard to a piece of
land being subject to entry can be obtained at
the local land office. All blank forms and other
papers can be obtained at the local land office
of the district in which the land is situated. All
unappropriated land can be entered if it is not
mineral or saline or occupied for the purpose of
trade.

Settlement may be made by all persons qual-
ified and you must go personally on the land and
improve it and live there five years and by doing
this you obtain exclusive rights against all per-
sons but the government. When settlement is
made on unsurveyed land you must plainly mark
the boundaries of the land you claim. Settle-
ment must be made in person and not by an
agent and you must live on it all the time.

A married woman cannot homestead land un-
less she is actually deserted by her husband, or 

67
68 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. POINTS FOR HOMESTEADERS. 69

[Image: Poor Country to Homestead]

Poor Country to Homestead.

he is down and out by disease and can't earn
a living for his family; or her husband is con-
fined in the penitentiary; or she is the heir of a
settler who dies. A married woman can't make
an entry under any other conditions. If a home-
steader deserts his wife and abandons the land
she has the exclusive right to contest. If a home-
steader deserts his minor children after the death
of his wife and also deserts his claim, the chil-
dren have the same rights as the wife. If a
husband and wife are holding a homestead apiece
they must quit one or the other, they can't hold
both. 

The unmarried widows of soldiers and sail-
ors who served 90 days in any war of the United
States or the Philippine insurrection can locate
a claim. A soldier serving in the army or navy
can locate, if some member of his family is resid-
ing on the claim.

Any person who has entered less than 160
acres, can enter enough more to make 1-4-S.
Persons whose original entries have failed
through no fault of their own can take another
claim. You can't take over 160 acres no matter
how much you try, and if you already own that
much it is all off and you cannot take any gov-
ernment land. All applicants by soldiers or
sailors or their widows must be accompanied by
their discharge papers. If a homesteader dies,
the land goes to the widow and all the king's 

70 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. POINTS FOR HOMESTEADERS. 71

oxen can't get it away, and if he dies before
final proof it goes to the widow also. Our Uncle
Sam takes good care of the widows.

No foreign born person can claim any rights
as heirs for a homestead unless he has declared
his intentions to become a citizen. Minor chil-
dren of soldiers or sailors can make an entry if
their fathers have not, if their mother has died
or remarried, but it must be done by their guard-
ian. A continued residence on a claim is re-
quired - a temporary sojourn or occasional visit
don't go any more. No specified amount of culti-
vation is stated but it must be continuous. You
can use the land for pasture if you can prove it
is more valuable for this. You must begin im-
provements within six months after locating or
entering or it is all off. This also holds good
for widows and minor children.

Leave of absence for one year or less if he
can prove failure or destruction of crops,
sickness or accident which prevent him from
supporting himself and family and if you can
show the United States land agent that you need
it, you can get away sometimes during the win-
ter months to work in cities or factories, lumber
camps and mills. Uncle Sam is very liberal to
the honest man who means well, but if otherwise,
look out, or there will be something doing. The
days of stealing land and pine are gone and it
is well you can thank a gentleman who wears

specs and has lived in Washington, D. C., and
is sometimes called "Teddy", thegent who be-
lieves every one should have a "square deal" and
is trying to make it so, some people to the con-
trary notwithstanding. 

I would say in passing that in the last five
years there has been considerable "hot air"
handed out about land in Canada and some have
been induced to go there. I know that country
and will say that some of the land is good, but
It is too far north. They get caught by frost
about two crops out of three and one spring
(1908) the Canadian Government supplied
farmers with seed wheat, they had been fro-
zen out the previous fall, and the government is
making a mortgage for the seed.

A fine state of affairs for a country that has
been tooted for a great thing for the past four
years. They tried to sell it for years and had
to finally give it away, and it is dear at that
price. I have seen frost every month in the year
in northern Minnesota even, to say nothing
about Canada which is north of that yet. Still
if one is frozen out, one might get a job trim-
ming the Northern Lights winters. There might
be something doing in that line. 

There is an idea that all the good land is
taken here in the United States. Don't believe
it. There are thousands of acres of fine homes
yet, enough for all if you know how to look it 

71

72 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. PROSPECTING FOR GOLD, ETC. 73

up. Of course there are not whole counties like
there used to be, but there are lots of good pieces
here and there on the prairies and in the moun-
tains, plenty and to spare. If you want to look
it up, get a list from the H-T-T, a good compass
and maps and butt in and if you don't get a good
farm and home its your own fault. It's there
for you if you are a citizen, and if you aren't,
you had better get a move on and be one for
Uncle Sam is the best man to tie up with that
ever came down the pike — no other government
will use you as well.

CHAPTER VIII.
PROSPECTING FOR GOLD, ETC. 

What to look for, if you are prospecting for
leads and are in a granite country, look for tin
and quartz. If in a limestone country, look
for iron and zinc. Hornblendē is the name of a
stone that will be referred to quite frequently
in these remarks and looks like mica, but is
harder and does not split like mica. Sometimes
it is found in the form of crystals. It is of a
dark greyish color, it can be scratched with the
point of a knife while quartz cannot.

A word here in regard to where to prospect.
Always choose ground that is accessible, for the
reason, if you strike a vein and it is low grade
ore it will pay to work it because it is accessible
and handy to get at and perhaps near water and
wood. There are lots of claims discovered of
good high grade ore that will not pay for the
working because it is hard to get to and will cost
more to get it out than it is worth. Therefore,
locate your vein in an accessible place if possible
and uncover as much of your vein as possible for
examination if you wish to sell, and I will say
here, that it is best for a poor man to sell for a
fair price any quartz claim you may find, retain-

73 
74 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. PROSPECTS FOR GOLD, ETC. 75

ing say one fifth interest, and if your strike
turns out bad you have lost nothing and the
other fellow has taken the chances. If it turns
out well your one-fifth share might make you a
whole lot of money, and I will say right here
that I have never known a prospector to have
any regard for money, only to spend it.

I can call to mind an old prospector friend
of mine who made a fortune on the gold coast of
Africa and spent it in six months. Then coming
to California he struck it rich again, sold out
for $11,000 and enjoyed himself in 'Frisco for
eight months or so. The last time I saw him he
was cleaning up tailings from a stamp mill in
Montana for a grub stake. His good luck had
left him. 

Old man Comstock who claims to have dis-
covered the Comstock mine in Nevada, sold out
for $40,000, spent the money and blew out his
brains in Montana. He was an old Canadian
trapper and incidentally all our great ore pro-
ducers were discovered by hunters and trappers
and not by the college graduates. After the dis-
covery is made these people can tell you all
about it, but never before.

The Anaconda copper mine, one of the great-
est copper producers in the world, was discov-
ered by two boys who were from the East, or
tenderfeet, as they are called in the West. They
were on a hunting and pleasure trip and had an

old time hunter for a guide. On his way to
camp one night one of the boys stubbed his toe
against something heavy. Picking it up, he
brought it to camp and showed it to the hunter
who threw it in the camp fire, where it melted,
showing nearly pure copper. This specimen
was a piece of float and that was the beginning
of the greatest copper mine in the world.

In the year 1890 I met a couple of grizzled
old prospectors in Montana who wanted me to
go in with them on a grub stake and prospect in
the Crazy Mountains, a range of mountains lying
east of the Rockies and forming a part of them.
They went in on this range and worked between
the Great Northern and Northern Pacific rail-
roads and I wished afterwards that I had, for
on getting back to St. Paul three months after
I picked up the Pioneer Press one day and read
where they struck it and sold out for $80,000.
My share would have been one-third of this or
about $26,666 - not a bad three months' work.

But to return to our prospecting. I assume
the reader knows what a vein is in a rock. It
is defined by Webster "as a seam of any sub-
stance more or less wide intersecting a rock and
not like the rock itself and where this vein
shows in the surface it is called an outcrop."
Look sharp for these veins. They are sometimes
very small, not thicker than this sheet of paper
or they might be as the Comstock, which was in 

76 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. PROSPECTS FOR GOLD, ETC. 77

some places over eight-five feet and the first as-
says showed over $3,000 per ton, so large that
the discoverers themselves could not believe it.
They thought that the assay office had made a
mistake. Sometimes these veins run most any
old way, up and down, flat and twisted, side-
ways and widthways, zigzag and flat. Here are
some actual samples.

[Image: Ore Vein - Step Fault]

A 
.
.
.
.
.
B

Ore Vein - Step Fault.

[Image: Folding Vein]

GRANITE
SLATE
CLAY OR LIMESTONE

Folding Vein. 

This step shows a step fault, so called. It
seems that through some eruption of the earth
the ore veins have slipped by each other. The
end at A gave out but the end where it stopped
was so large that it excited suspicion and a shaft
was sunk at B, picking up the vein again. But
the day of sinking shafts are gone. Nowadays
if there is any testing to be done a diamond
drill is used which will cut medium hard rock
at the rate of three feet per hour.

This is known to miners as a folding vein of
ore and rock. These will sometimes dip opposite
with the round end up.

[Image: Pinchout Vein]

G
F
E

.
.
.
A
.
.
.
B
C

Pinchout Vein. 

This cut shows what is known to miners as a
"pinchout vein," pinching out at a-b-c and being
picked up again with a diamond drill e-f and g.

78 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. PROSPECTS FOR GOLD, ETC. 79

These veins fooled a good many miners at one
time until their nature was understood, and the
diamond drill got into the field of mining. In
locating an outcrop one never can tell whether
he has hold of the head or the tail of the vein
and the diamond drill is about all that can tell
the story.

[Image: Mountain Top Vein]

Mountain Top Vein. 

This represents a mountain top vein although
mountain tops are considered poor places to
prospect. This seems to be the nature of veins
around Goldfield, Nevada, and Death Valley,
California, and for this reason I believe the big
Nevada mine went so long undiscovered.

When you find an ore vein it may not look
like gold, not a little bit, it may look like horn
blende and be dark, grey or green, depending on
the iron pyrites in it and may excite your sus-
picion by being heavy. Always sample anything
heavy for gold, copper or tin. It may lead up to
discoveries of importance. Then, again, it might
be light and excite your suspicion by its color.
Dark veins or seams and especially if nearly
black are apt to carry copper. In river prospect-
ing, look for a vein filling where two different
kinds of rock come together called diorite. It
is a mixed rock. Also look for a rock called
diabase. It is a volcanic rock. Also look for a
rock called porphyry. This is also a mixed rock
but unlike the others it contains crystals. These
kinds of rock were all used by nature for vein
fillings. A vein of pebbles mixed with iron
pyrites called mundic is a good sign and will
bear looking into.

Find where slate, shale or granite, also lime-
stone are pierced by different kinds of rock or
any kind of vein filling for that matter. Don't
depend too much on the color. Where these fill-
ings occur, butt into them and take a sample.
Perhaps some one has blundered over them forty
times and left a fortune by not testing them.
Most of our rich mines had this experience.
Don't depend too much on the color or weight if
the rock is a stranger to you. Keep into the hills
when looking for veins but not into the moun-
tain tops, although they have a fascination to
you. In looking for placer mines keep to the
valleys where you would naturally look for float. 

Now a word about this float. It is pieces of

80 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. PROSPECTS FOR GOLD, ETC. 81

ore that have become detached or broken off
from vein or outcrop above in the higher moun-
tains and through the action of frost, sun or rain
and wind. It may be a chunk or it may be fine
particles and may look (and is very apt to) like
hornblende, or, it may be a blue pasty sort of
stuff or black sand. Through the action of rain it
may be spread out like a fan if the side of the
hill is convex or rounding. If the hill is con-
cave it will be found more bunched and in
streaks. You can do this prospecting and at-
tend to a line of traps, or while holding down a
claim of land. Anyhow, whatever you do, follow
up this vein of float until the vein or outcrop is
found. The less the float is worn and the larger
the pieces the nearer the vein you are.

When the float ceases, run a ditch at right
angles to your supposed vein for it may have to
be dug for. Then, again, it may stick out of
the ground a few inches or many inches, or it
may be soft and spongy ore and there may be a
depression in the ground. But when you find it
you will find it don't look like pure gold - not a
little bit. It will look yellowish-red or brownish
black and it may be softer or harder. This color-
ing is done by iron pyrites and miners call it
iron hat, and as you get into the vein it will be
harder - so hard in fact you will have to blast it.
Sample often, not only for gold but silver and
copper, and if you sink a shaft, keep it plumb.

If you drift, use timbers for staying the roof and
sides. Asbestos veins show white, sulphur shows
dirty yellow, silver dirty white and limey. It
will sometimes form a bluish paste when mixed
with quicksilver. Gold is very malleable and will
sink in quicksilver and nitric acid will not touch
it. Small quantities of gold are called calores.
Small pieces of float or ledges can be examined
by pounding them fine and washing in a gold
pan.

Look for signs of gold on gravelly river bars
and where two rivers come together. Black sand
in such a place is a good sign, also quartz peb-
bles. You cannot scratch these pebbles with a
knife point. Also small pebbles of garnet and
of chrone iron. They are black in color and
about the size of strat. These are all good signs.
If you find calores, sink a shaft to bed rock for
there is the place where you will find it the rich-
est. Now sample some of this stuff you find on
top of the bed rock.

In the southwest plants sometimes will help
to locate an outcrop or vein. A plant called
Spanish bayonet likes quartz and granite soil.
A plant called O-ko-te-ya grows on clay and slate
veins. Cactus likes limestone soil where granite
and different rock come together, is likely to be
a vein, and if so it is big odds that it is a tin or
gold quartz ore, which, as before stated, will be 

6

82 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. PROSPECTS FOR GOLD, ETC. 83

yellow, red or brown, depending on the amount
of iron in it, and take a sample of it. Bear in
mind some of the best mines were traveled over
hundreds of years by hunters, trappers and trad-
ers before they were discovered to be precious
metal. The Cobalt Mines in northern Minnesota
and southern Canada are a late case of this kind.

A list of tools will be handy to the young
prospector and some of the old ones too for that
matter, and they are not expensive. A gold pan
or horn spoon you must have, also a light pick
and shovel. I have found an ordinary pick with
one pick cut off about three or four inches from
the hub to be used for a hammer for pulverizing
ore, to be all right, and have the hammer end
slightly hardened when the blacksmith cuts the
pick off. You will also want an old case knife
to dig gravel out of crevices with, a bottle of
quicksilver in a tin or wood case and some prus-
sic acid packed the same way. Bear in mind this
prussic acid is deadly poison. You must also
have a good magnifying glass to carry in your
vest pocket, also a small bottle of borax and a
couple of chamois skins. A good gold pan is
about thirteen inches in width at the top and
ten at the bottom, two or two and a half inches
deep and is best made of aluminum. Also take
along a small horseshoe magnet for taking black
sand out of your amalgam (gold and quicksilver
mixed with black sand).

A very handy tool is the horn spoon. It can
be carried in the pocket and the gold pan left
at home, when prospecting for samples. It is
made by cutting the belly out of a large dark ox
horn, the darker the better. It will show up
colors and it is very handy to take small samples
with. Some carry a blowpipe outfit and the
chemicals that go with it would make a small
drug store, and the first upset you have, and I
always have two or three, your chemicals will
go glimmering and perhaps spoil a lot of good
grub or blankets. But if you wish to take one
along they can be bought from most any jewelry
supply house for fifty or seventy-five cents, and
with the flame of a common candle you can prac-
tice, taking a few grains of ore, put them on a
piece of charcoal, blow the candle flame on it and
perhaps melt a small button of gold or copper
and tin and mixed metal. Your tests with a
blowpipe cannot be carried far without a lot of
dope and it belongs more to the laboratory than
the field, and personally I don't like to bother
with them. 

CHAPTER IX.
SAMPLING ORE.

[Image: Panning - Washing for Gold]

Panning - Washing for Gold.

As I have mentioned before, it is a good pol-
icy to take samples of any mineral that strikes
you as being valuable, especially if it is heavy or
even if it is light, and is a strange piece of rock.
It is a good idea if there are any veins open in
that country or district to take a look at the ore,
they are taking out. This will give you a pointer
of what the mineral is in that country or dis-
trict and what to look for when prospecting, also
the heft and color of the ore. 

Now if your sample is hard, take the stub
end of your pick and on a flat, hard stone, pul-
verize it as fine as possible, taking care to save
the pieces that fly off. Your sample to be tested
should be, say from one to five pounds, depend-
ing on whether you are using your horn spoon
or your gold pan. Add water until you have a
thin pulp or sludge. Put in an ounce of quick-
silver, more or less according to the size of your
sample. Also drop in a little prussic acid. Stir
thoroughly an hour or two if you can stand it
that long for your quicksilver must be thorough-
ly mixed in order to pick up your gold.

Now add more water and wash off the dirt.

84

86 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. SAMPLING ORE. 87

This washing process is hard to describe. You
must get the water to whirling around in your
pan, letting a little slop out occasionally until
nothing but a little coarse stuff remains in the
bottom of the pan or spoon. This is called
amalgam. Pick out the coarse stuff and save it
and if black sand is present, take it out with
your magnet. It will stick to the magnet the
same as your gold dust to the quicksilver. Now
take the amalgam, place it in your chamois skin
and twist it hard so your quicksilver will go
through into a dish of water so you can save it.
Put what is left on a shovel and heat it red hot.
This burns out what quicksilver is left and
leaves your gold or other mineral. This is called
sponge gold.

During this heating process be careful and
not inhale the fumes or smoke as they are pois-
onous. Stand on the up wind side. If you want
to make it finer make a retort of clay, put in
your amalgam or sponge gold and heat your
clay retort red hot. After it cools, open it and
you may have a gold button big enough to buy a
grub stake if you have struck it lucky, then again
you may not. Most of the old timers stop at the
sponge stage and let the assay office finish it and
I would suggest when taking it to be assayed,
leave a sample at two or three assay offices for
obvious reasons, and it is also good policy to
send a sample to the nearest U. S. assay office. 

It is good policy to test a vein for different
minerals. To test for copper, pulverize a piece
of your rock the same as for gold. Mix as much
more salt with it and rub in some candle grease
or fat. Then put your sample on a hot fire. If
you have much copper in your ore the flame will
show first blue, then greenish. It is best to make
this test at night and to bake your ore a little
before crushing it.

To test for silver, rub a piece of copper
smartly through your ore sample after it is
crushed. A piece of copper wire or an empty
copper rifle shell will do. If silver is present
it will turn your copper white. Another way is
to heat a chunk of ore good and hot, then
plunge it in cold water. If there is any silver
metal in the sample it will come to the surface
in the shape of a greyish scum. 

To test for coal, take a chunk of the ore to
be tested and seal it up in the bowl of a clay pipe
with a daub of clay. Then heat red hot in the
fire, letting the stem act as a vent and if you
have coal it will appear in the shape of coke,
when the pipe bowl is opened.

The Mexicans use a retort for retorting gold
made out of a raw potato. They cut a hole in
the potato, insert the amalgam, heat a shovel
red hot, place it over the hole. Then set the
shovel on the fire and heat it red hot. The quick-
silver or mercury will go into the potato and can 

88 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. SAMPLING ORE. 89

be saved. This is not such a bad retort as a
couple of Mexicans cleaned up a good chunk of
money from the tailings of the Comstock mine
before the owners got on to it that they were
throwing away so much silver.

It takes 1863 degrees Far. to melt silver and
about 2000 degrees to melt copper and 428 de-
grees only to melt tin, gold about 1983 degrees.
So you will observe that with the exception of
tin you must have a good hot fire and as iron
melts at about 2912 degrees you need not spoil
your shovel making these tests. You can test
specimens from a gravel bar the same as for a
vein. Some of our best placer mines were blun-
dered over for years by hunters and trappers
before they were discovered by prospectors,
hence it is for the trapper and hunter this is
intended. 

It often happens that one wishes to get an
average of his vein or outcrop. To do this, take
a sample from four different spots on your vein
or outcrop. Pulverize them as before stated and
spread them on a floor or clean spot to an even
thickness and mark it off into four squares.
Now select one of these squares and repeat the
operation with it. Go through this operation
until you think you have a fair sample. Leave
a sample at three assay offices and take the aver-
age value of the three tests. If you are selling
it it is better to underrate your claim a little

than to overrate it for the prospective buyer
will get suspicious the minute you begin to make
excuses and you may have trouble in disposing
of it. Set an honest valuation on your property
as you see it and stick to it.

92 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. POOR MAN'S ORE MILL. 93

it is well to be posted, as sometimes men we
think honest prove dishonest. As an old Hudson
Bay man said to me once, they are all good fel-
lows, but keep your eye on them, and I will add,
sometimes both eyes, and the worst crooks are
sometimes found in the highest places.

CHAPTER XI. 
POOR MAN'S ORE MILL.

There is an ore mill that has been used in
Mexico for hundreds of years, called the Ar-
rastras, and with all the so-called modern im-
provements they can hold their own and better
for good work. Their only fault is their lack of
capacity. On the great Comstock vein in Ne-
vada they continued their use long after they
got their improved stamp mills, and in case a
man of small means wishes to get some of the
gold out of his mine for himself before selling,
and has not the means to buy a lot of machinery,
that perhaps would not be of much use to him
anyhow, the Arrastras is all right. If you can
get a little timber and a few hard, sharp stones
they are cheap and handy. Of course it works
best on free milling or soft ore and for clean
work it is the best or as good as any.

It is made the same as an old-fashioned cider
mill we used to grind our apples in. A circular
pit about ten feet in diameter and from sixteen
to eighteen inches deep is dug or built up of
stone and clay or cement. Then the bottom of
this pit is lined with good clay to about eight
inches and pounded down hard. This pit is

93

94 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. POOR MAN'S ORE MILL. 95

lined with hard sharp stones to the depth of
eight or ten inches, making provision in the cen-
ter for a shaft to set upright with an arm on
it set into the shaft about a foot above the sharp
stones. To this arm are fastened one or two flat,
hard stones weighing from five to eight hundred
pounds and having the ends raised two or three
inches and fastened to the arm with eyebolts or
wire. A sweep is attached to the post or upright
and mule or horse power can be used. The cir-
cular pit must be watertight with an outlet or
plug on the side and level with the bottom of the
stone paring, also one at the level of the clay
bottom.

To use the mill, break the ore into pieces
about the size of hickory nuts and charge the
mill with about 500 pounds of ore for a ten
foot mill. Add a little water from time to time,
also a couple of teaspoons of quicksilver for each
four or five tons of ore. Grind this charge to a
slush about as thick as cream. Now scatter in
a strong ounce of quicksilver for every ounce
of gold as near as you can guess, and your gold
pan sample shows. Grind two or three hours
more, adding water and running slow until your
slush is thin. Draw off the water from the plug
at the top of the sharp stones, add another
charge and repeat the operation, as it is not
necessary to clean up oftener than every ten
or fifteen days unless your ore is extremely rich

or you need the money. Ten or fifteen turns a
minute is fast enough to run the mill. When
you make your clean-up draw off the water, wash
off and remove the sharp stones and renew dull
ones with sharp ones when you put them back.
It is always well while grinding to throw in a
little wood ashes to kill any soapy substance in
the ore. This mill will have to be tried to be
appreciated. It is also good to test a vein with
if your prospective buyer wants a working test.
After your amalgam is taken from the pit it
will have to have the quicksilver squeezed out
and then be retorted by the clay or potato pro-
cess, or a retort made for the purpose. It is
not necessary to throw away your quicksilver,
if it gets dull after being used. If it gets in this
condition it can be renewed by washing in a
weak solution of sulphuric acid with a little zinc
added.

POOR MAN'S STAMP MILL.

As well as an ore mill one should have a
stamp mill to break up his ore and here is one
that will do the work well enough for a man of
limited means, and breakages and repairs are
not expensive. They cost nothing but a few bars
of iron and a little rope and you can make it
this way. Cut a log six feet long and eighteen
or more inches in diameter and set it solid in the
ground about two feet. Cut a hole six by six in 

96 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. POOR MAN'S ORE MILL. 97

the end and take some strong wrought iron
pieces a half inch thick, eight or nine inches
long and three inches deep. Set these in the
top of the 6x6 inch hole about one half inch
apart. This is for the grate. Now fit a box
around your grate so pieces of the ore will not
fly out. Now rig up your stamp as shown in the
cut. 

[Image: Poor Man's Stamp Mill]

IRON SHOE
6X6"

< 30 FT. 10 FT. >

Poor Man's Stamp Mill.

Procure a long springy sapling about four or
six inches thru at the butt, make the butt flat
and fasten it to the tree about five or six feet
from the ground. Cut a post with a crotch on
one end and set it in the ground about ten feet
or so from the end. Cut another piece of timber
about four feet long and eight inches through.
Put an iron shoe on one end of this piece and
an eyebolt in the other end and hang this on the
end of your spring pole. This is your hammer
and you now have a stamp mill that will do busi-
ness if you have built it right.

Before closing this subject I would like to
say a few words about the Klondike mines so
called. These mines are, or were, a poor man's
mines because they were placer diggings. The
opinion is frequently expressed that there are
no quartz mines there. Now I will venture the
opinion that the gold found there is simply the
float from immense outcrops and some day there
will be discovered by somebody some almighty
quartz veins and they will run north and south
and not parallel with the Yukon River. They
may not be more than six inches under the tun-
dra and they may be two thousand feet, and
some day some one will be prodding around with
a diamond drill and find things that will put
even the great Comstock load in the shade and
surprise the world. My reasons for thinking this
would occupy too much space here and would
not be understood by many.

7

CHAPTER XII.
PROSPECTING FOR FUR.

The Land Cruiser and Prospector who spend
many months each season in the woods and upon
the plains are pretty well posted upon the best
sections for game, fur, feathers and fish. Some
of this class follow trapping to a certain extent
while others do not. It is the latter class that
give away much valuable information to the
trapper. 

Throughout the West and Northwest pros-
pectors pay considerable attention to minerals
as there are no doubt many times as many un-
discovered mines as are known and being
worked. The prospector for fur in these sections
is a prospector for minerals as well. Some of
the richest mines in America were discovered by
prospectors looking up marten and other fur
animal signs.

The successful trapper is the one who looks
up his grounds - prospects - months in advance
of the trapping season. While civilization
ruined trapping in many parts of the United
States and Canada in others it is about as good
as when the Indians alone inhabited America
before the coming of the White Trapper.

It is true in many of the older states the

98

PROSPECTING FOR FUR. 99

larger and more valuable fur bearers, such as
beaver, otter, bear, marten, raccoon and fisher
are gone, but in their stead the smaller fur bear-
ers such as mink, muskrat, skunk, red and grey
fox are still there — some having increased with
civilization. 

The impression among many trappers is that
to secure furs in paying quantities they must
get far away from civilization and into the for-
ests of Alaska, Northern Canada or the Rocky
Mountain sections of the West and Northwest-
ern parts of the United States. With the ex-
ception of a small per cent. of professional trap-
pers who catch marten, lynx, black, silver and
cross foxes in the little known sections, the ma-
jority of the large catches are made by trappers
in the swamps of the South and Southwest while
in old settled sections like the New England
states some fine catches are made each season.
In parts of New York and Pennsylvania more
fox, mink and skunk are caught than generally
supposed.

Along the marshes of New Jersey, Delaware,
Maryland and Virginia large quantities of musk-
rat are annually caught. Other good rat pro-
ducing sections are Iowa, Minnesota, the Da-
kotas and the lake region of Canada.

Mink and raccoon are perhaps most plentiful
in the swamps of the South - Arkansas, Texas,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, etc. - while

100 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. PROSPECTING FOR FUR. 101

[Image: Prospectors Viewing Rocky Mountain Snowslides in Midsummer]

Prospectors Viewing Rocky Mountain Snowslides in Midsummer. 

beaver and otter inhabit waters as secluded as
possible from civilization. Bear are found in
the mountainous sections of a great deal of the
country, but their exact location each fall, in
numbers, depends upon the mast. Marten and
lynx are great rabbit devourers and are general-
ly found where rabbits abound.

From this it will be seen that the "Prospector
for Fur" should get busy weeks, if not months,
in advance of the active trapping season. The
professional trapper can tell by passing through
a wooded section whether it is "rich in fur bear-
ing" animals or not. Sign on logs of recent
droppings, feathers where some animal has re-
cently feasted, as well as many other signs are
plain to the experienced. Along the streams a
glance is sufficient to reveal whether beaver, ot-
ter, mink or muskrat are there. 

The best time to prospect for beaver and ot-
ter signs is in the early spring before the leaves
are out and vegetation helps shield slides of ot-
ter and the beaver lodges. If the prospecting is
done in the spring the trapper has months to get
ready for the next season's campaign. Another
good time to prospect for water animals is early
fall. Signs at that time will be more plentiful
and unless the prospector is an experienced trap-
per will over estimate the amount of fur. 

If beaver there will be cuttings in the water
and on shore and probably a dam and houses

102 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. PROSPECTING FOR FUR. 103

near; if otter their slides will be found but prob-
ably not until after considerable close observa-
tion; their dungs which is often largely com-
posed of fish scales, is generally discovered near
their slides; mink follow close to the water's
edge and their tracks reveal their presence;
muskrat either have dens in the bank or build
small dome shaped houses of weeds, grass, etc.

If you want to trap bear, keep a lookout for
logs torn apart. This is the work of bruin hunt-
ing ants and other insects. While bear signs
may be very plentiful in September and October,
by November they den up in the more Northern
sections for the winter. Of course the time of
their denning up depends upon the weather, but
in most sections they travel but little after snow
comes.

The trapping of wolves and coyotes has be-
come quite an industry in many parts of the
United States as there is a state bounty as well
as ranchers' bounty in some states. In Michi-
gan we believe the state pays $25.00 and the
county $10.00, making $35.00 bounty on a wolf
scalp. Some of the western states pay a liberal
bounty to which add the ranchersor stockmen
bounty and the wolf catcher secures about the
same as in Michigan. Wolves and coyotes are
distributed in more or less numbers in nearly all
states west of the Mississippi River.

The "prospecting" for a good wolf country
means a great deal to the "wolfers." If a good
wolf country is located the "wolfers" generally
wait until the pups are born and secure the
bounty on their scalps as well as the old ones.
Of course the bounty is not so much on pups. 
Many methods are adopted by the "wolfers"
in locating dens. Those who have long been at
the business know the kind of country they breed
in, which is in caves, large dens, etc., found in
the roughest places as a rule. Dogs are some-
times used. At other times the hunter or trap-
per conceals himself and watches the surround-
ing country. They generally use a field glass.
It is pretty certain that when an animal is seen
it is either coming from a den or going to one. 
Pups are generally born the latter part of March
or fore part of April.

The "Prospector for Fur" has almost all of
North America as his field. While in some of
the older states the larger fur bearers are gone,
yet there are parts of nearly every state where
there is more or less fur. To find the best sec-
tions in the thickly settled states requires "pros-
pecting."

In the Far North — Northern Canada — there
are more valuable fox than any other part of
the continent, although some good specimens of
both black and silver are caught in Southern
Canada and occasionally in the northern part
of the United States. The fur-producing area of 

103

104 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. PROSPECTING FOR FUR. 105

Canada that has been little "prospected" is still
large — about half as large as the United States.
In addition to the several kinds of fox there are
marten, mink, lynx, fisher, wild cat, bear, wol-
verine, weasel, otter, beaver and rat. In the
southern part there are coon and skunk. This is
the settled district.

In that part of Canada say three hundred
miles north of the United States there is prob-
ably not more people than there is in a couple of
cities the size of Cleveland, Ohio, but the terri-
tory is as large or larger than all of the United
States east of the Mississippi. It is so cold and
summers so short that it can never be farmed
to advantage and unless something unforeseen
happens will be the home of fur-producing ani-
mals for ages. This territory today contains
some Indian trappers and a few professional
white and half-breed trappers.

The trapper who has always lived in the
South had best not "jump" to far North at once
for the change will be too great and the cold too
severe. The same conditions apply to the Far
Northern trapper who goes South. If the move is
say from one to three thousand miles the climate
will be entirely different.

The fur prospector as a rule will look over
grounds but a few hundred miles off and to a
great extent the methods used are the same as
they have been accustomed to. If the trapper 

in Northern Canada should try the swamps of
the southern part of the United States he
would encounter different trapping conditions
and probably be attacked with fever. On the
other hand, should the Southern trapper try his
hand for a season in the Far North he would
probably become discouraged at the deep snows
and intense cold. During the winter months all
traveling is done on snow shoes over snow from
two to ten feet deep. All things considered, the
trapper who traps in states whose climate he is
accustomed to, will fare best.

There is no one section where all fur bearers,
both land and water, are found in numbers, al-
though in the Northwest, Oregon, Washington
and British Columbia - nearly all are found in
some sections of the states and province named.

Generally speaking the Southern and South-
western States are the best for mink, coon and
opossum. These states also furnish a good many
otter and considerable quantities of beaver.
Such states as Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri,
West Virginia and Virginia are good opossum
producing ones. They also furnish considerable
quantities of coon, mink and skunk. The states
from New York and Pennsylvania west to Kan-
sas and Nebraska which include Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin
and Michigan are good skunk states. All the
Rocky Mountain States contain more or less 

106 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. PROSPECTING FOR FUR. 107

bear, mountain lion, foxes and wolves and the
Northern States are the home of marten in fairly
good numbers. White weasel are found in all
Northern States as well as throughout Canada.
Mink are pretty generally distributed over all of
North America; marten and fisher in the high
wooded and sparsely settled regions.

Those who expect to make a paying business
at trapping must prospect - whether they expect
to locate in the Far North and trap fox and
marten or the plains for rat, mink and skunk or
in the Southern swamps for coon and mink.

There are sections where fur-bearing animals
are found in greater numbers than generally
supposed, but it is not the purpose of this book
to locate them, that is for you to investigate -
prospect. As a hint the following is given: Suc-
cessful trappers as a rule do not give away the
location of their trapping grounds. The looking
up of trapping grounds in advance of the active
season is really one of the most important things
for the trapper. Before grounds are located
nothing can be done towards active preparation
for the season. When the grounds are located
there is plenty to do such as building cabins and
constructing deadfalls, if you expect to make a
good catch. Supplies must also be gotten before
the active season begins. 

If trapping in a settled section, look up your
"sets" and have traps ready. Also make ar-

rangements for lodging if you wish. Some trap-
pers, however, prefer to keep the fact that they
are trapping in any place as quiet as possible
which is not a bad idea.

PROSPECTING FOR PEARLS. 109

CHAPTER XIII.
PROSPECTING FOR PEARLS.

Pearls are brilliant, lustrous formations, con-
sisting largely of carbonate of lime interstrati-
fied with animal membrane, found in the shells
of certain mollusks. They are believed to orig-
inate by the entrance into the shell of some out-
side particle, such as a grain of sand, an egg of
the mollusk itself, or perhaps some parasite
which irritates the mantle or outer covering of
the animal until it produces a secretion which in
time forms the pearl. Again, it is also said that
an excess of carbonate of lime in the water may
cause a pearl to develop. 

However, accepting the theory that a grain
of sand is the more common cause, it is easy to
understand how this foreign particle, of which
the animal is unable to rid itself, becomes cov-
ered with a pearly substance, constantly grow-
ing thicker and larger all the time and taking
on a variety of shapes and forms. It may be
round, oval, flattened, mallet-shaped or very ir-
regular. Again it may be that the mollusk in its
efforts to get rid of this irritation caused by the
offending particle revolves it constantly, thus
making the different shapes and forms.

108

Whatever the cause or however formed they
may be found in almost any of the mollusks, al-
though they are confined mostly to certain
groups, of which the Union or fresh water clam
is the most common and is found in the fresh
water lakes and rivers and streams of the United
States; the color and lustre of the pearl corre-
sponding with the inner part of the shell nearest
which it lies. The West Indian pinch conch shell
produces beautiful rose-colored pearls, while
those of the common oysters and clam are a dead
white or dark purple, as to how near they are to
that part of the mantle which secretes the white
or the dark material for the shell.

The mantle is the thin delicate membrane
which covers the soft internal part of the animal,
and it is from the surface of this, especially the
outer edges, that the material is produced which
forms the inner layers of the shell. 

Whatever may be the method of formation,
pearls can only be formed at the expense of the
shell, as everything necessary to their production
is drawn from the same supply as that for the
shell. Therefore, their presence can usually be
discovered by the appearance of the outside of
the shell.

Natural, perfect looking shells very seldom
contain pearls, while the humped, ill-shaped,
rough ones often contain beautiful pearls. In
gathering shells only the fullgrown, old, dis-

110 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. PROSPECTING FOR PEARLS. 111

torted ones should be taken, as these are the ones
wherein the pearls will be found, and by collect-
ing only this kind the pearl fisheries will be pre-
served. This fact should be remembered, as the
Government has had to step in and prohibit the
taking of clams for pearls for a period of two
years or more in many places. Then, too, the
pearl bearing mollusks are becoming quite rare
in the Eastern states on account of the contam-
ination of the water by the mills and manufac-
tories, as animal life cannot long exist in impure
waters, but gradually dies or seeks pure water.

The shells should always be opened as soon
as they are taken from the water, because if al-
lowed to open by decaying the pearls become dis-
colored. They should never be opened by boil-
ing as the heat ruins the lustre and brilliancy
of the pearl.

Many pearl hunters may open thousands of
shells without finding anything of much value,
and perhaps a whole season may be spent with
no better result — only finding a few small ones
or slugs which bring small reward for the time
spent. While, perhaps, a farmer boy may hap-
pen along within the hour, kick out a single
shell, open it and out drops a pearl of great
value. So it is with this expectancy of finding
something valuable in the next one that keeps
them eternally at it. But not one in a hundred
may be of good shape and quality, as the worth

of a pearl depends upon its color, lustre and
form. 

Many large and valuable pearls have been
found in different sections. Among the most
noted was one found in 1857 near Paterson, N.
J., weighing 93 grains which was known as the
"Queen Pearl." It was sold to the Empress Eu-
genie of France for $2,500, and this same pearl
is now worth $10,000.

As late as this last summer pearls have been
found in the Mississippi Valley, one weighing
165 grains, valued at from $5,000 to $6,000 and
which would have been worth several times this
amount had it been a perfect gem. Another
beautiful, round, clear pearl sold for $2,250. 
Others at $500, $700, $900 and $1,000. And num-
bers have been taken from the rivers and streams
of Iowa which have sold for $50, $100 and $200,
while great quantities of smaller ones ranging
in price from $2.00 to $25.00 have been gathered
and sold. A pearl of 12 grains which is perfect
in beauty, color and shape may be worth $200,
but with very slight defects its value may be
reduced to one-tenth that sum. 

These pearl formations are not always sym-
metrical, in fact the number of perfect ones
found is rare compared with the great number
found. Some are perfectly round and smooth,
some are flattened on one side and are called
"button pearls", others are flattened on one side

112 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. PROSPECTING FOR PEARLS. 113

with a somewhat irregular surface and are called
"baroques" and "biscuits" and the slugs, the
most common form of all. Among these there
are many odd, almost grotesque shapes, some
seeming to resemble human and animal heads,
wings, feather-like forms, horns and a rounded
variety with raised, pitted markings are numer-
ous. But whatever the form may be, they have
very little value unless they are lustrous and
beautifully pearly. 

In colors they present a series of shades from
the dead, opaque white, which are the least val-
ued pearls, through the many tints of pink, sal-
mon, yellow, the different shades of purples on
to a bright red, which resembles a drop of molten
copper; there are also light and dark green, light
and dark blue, rose color and in fact all the col-
ors of the rainbow, all more or less beautifully
transparent and iridescent. But in color as
well as form they must be brilliant, lustrous and
pearly, with a perfectly smooth skin, free from
pimples, knots, pits and protuberances, as these
several defects all lessen the value.

The pearl is the only precious gem found
where no labor, work or skilled artisan is em-
ployed to perfect its natural beauty which it has
when it comes direct from the clam. However,
there may be a dull opaque and apparently
worthless one found, when, by peeling away the
outer layer a very beautiful pearl may be pro-

[Image: A Pearl Stream]

A Pearl Stream. 

8 

114 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. PROSPECTING FOR PEARLS. 115

duced. Again its imperfections may extend all
through and the work of peeling makes no im-
provement.

Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, Ohio
and Iowa are the leading pearl producing states
and many valuable pearls are taken from their
lakes, rivers and streams of the finest grades and
highest values, while the White and Black river
sections of Arkansas produce many beautiful
ones. In fact, in every state in the Union they
are found in more or less abundance. In an
early day the Miami Valley of Ohio was a great
pearl producing section, until the clams became
almost exterminated by the ceaseless hunt and
destruction of the clam beds. A score or more
of American heiresses are today wearing "ropes
of pearls" representing values of a hundred
thousand dollars and up, while all the nobility
of Europe prize them as the highest valued jew-
els worn by them and fortunes are represented
around the necks of many a Countess or Prin-
cess. All taken from some little clam and by
some man's hard toil in the waters searching
for these gems.

Many of the poorer pearls find a market in
Germany, the finest and most valuable in the
United States and France principally.

The most noted marine pearl fishery on the
American continent is lower California, the
pearl oysters preferring sheltered bays or har-

bors where fresh water empties in, and in these
places some of the finest pearls have been found.
At these fisheries the season lasts from June to
December, and great quantities are taken by div-
ers who go out in small boats diving for the
shells, bringing up a basketful and often a sin-
gle shell has been opened containing one hun-
dred pearls, but so very small that they were of
little or no value.

The true pearl oyster of the Pacific and In-
dian ocean is one of the most common pearl
bearers, and has always produced the bulk of
commercial pearls, while the large thick shell
produces the mother-of-pearl used for numerous
ornamental purposes. 

The history of the American pearl dates from
the day Columbus landed in the New World,
when he found the Indian women with many
strings of them around their necks and history
tells us that he took great quantities back with
him, secured by exchanging some gaudy, highly
painted plate or similar trifling article.

Again, the great shell mounds found in Flor-
ida which Mr. Clarence A. Vandiveer of Mi-
amisburg, O., mentions in his article entitled,
"On Indian River" in last month's H-T-T, were
not pearl producing shells and for what pur-
pose such great quantities were gathered re-
mains yet unexplained, unless it was that the
meat was used as an article of food, as re-

116 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. PROSPECTING FOR BEES. 117

searches have been made in these mounds by
prominent lapidaries, but no trace of pearl bear-
ing shells have been found.

Balboa and De Soto found them in the hands
of the natives in large quantities and Sir Walter
Raleigh collected from the natives in Virginia
several thousand, choosing only the best among
them. But all of these found among the natives
at that early time which were strung were
mostly spoiled in brilliancy and lustre, as their
crude way of burning a hole through them with
a hot copper wire ruined their pearly color,
while others cooked, baked and steamed by them
lost their beauty and splendor as well. 

CHAPTER XIV.
PROSPECTING FOR BEES.

In this article it is the intention of the writer
to explain the manner in which the sport of
hunting the wild bee is pursued, and I wish to
explain it in such a way that the amateur may
understand. If I am able to give some old bee
hunters a pointer, my object in writing this will
have been attained. 

In hunting the wild honey bees as I hunt
them, the following articles are necessary: A
box 8 inches long, 3 inches wide and 2½ inches
deep, with a cover fitting loosely and down over
the box one-half inch. Be sure your cover fits
so as to exclude the light, but not tight enough
to stick. In the center of the cover, cut a 1¼
inch hole and in this fit a circular piece of glass
and wax it tight. Take a piece of comb — that
which has been used as brood comb — and fit it
nicely in your box. The reason I use brood
comb is because it is heavier and tougher and
the bees cannot break it so easily as they would
lighter comb.

Your box is now complete. Next you will
need bait. Do not use clear honey, but dilute
the honey by using two parts of cold tea to one 

117

118 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. PROSPECTING FOR BEES. 119

part pure honey. Tea gives the bait a flavor
very much liked by bees, for they will leave pure
honey to take it. I also used a good scent which
I think is of great value, especially if I have to
drop a line by reason of a sudden storm or
night coming on too soon.

We will suppose the season is early fall, and
the flowers have become so scarce that Mr. Bee
must do considerable hunting. Now select your
locality, if possible in some opening in the
woods. At this time of the year, look for bees
on catnip, golden rod or fire weed. Having
found them, select your bee; if Italian, take
one that is fully developed, that has two or three
distinct yellow bands. This indicates that he is
an old worker, and will load heavy. Now be
careful in the way you go about getting this bee.
Take the box in one hand and the cover in the
other hand; slip the box under the bee and care-
fully move the cover over him. Bring box and
cover together so as to brush the bee into the
box. If this operation is a success, the bee will
appear on the glass in an endeavor to escape.
Now darken the glass with the palm of your
hand and in the meantime find a stump or some
other elevation three, four or five feet from the
ground and set the box on it. Now cautiously
move the hand that covers the glass and if the
bee has settled, proceed to lift the cover off the
box. Be careful not to jar the box and move 

the cover away from it so that the incoming light
will represent the passing of a cloud before the
sun.

Now get back a rod or two from the box and
sit down and watch your box. The bee will come
out, examine the box and its surroundings, and
will then go back in again, this time to fill with
all he can carry. Now notice the direction in
which the bee circles, as that will indicate the
direction the line will take when you get them
going. Keep still and wait until the bee has been
gone ten minutes and you will see him coming
again, evidently very much excited over his find.
Notice the wide circles of his flight; they are for
a purpose as you will soon see, for there is an-
other bee with him. They fill and go in per-
haps a like direction for it will take about one
or two hours for them to get down to business.
By that time bees will be at the box by the dozen
and will leave the box without a circle, and one
can see them for twenty rods or more. Now you
can stand beside the box, for they are too busy
to fear you. See that the box has plenty of bait
and if near the woods take the line and examine
it closely. If you don't find them, put cover on
box with as many bees in it as possible, and
move so as to have both lines meet. This will
put them on an acre of ground. When you move
and uncover box, set up high on stump or pole,

120 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. PROSPECTING FOR BEES. 121

but don't keep box covered more than three min-
utes.

Here are some things you must consider in
hunting bees: The time of the year, the amount
of flowers in bloom, and the lay of the land, and
the kind of bees, Italian or black. Remember
that the old saying "straight as a bee line" is
not always true, as I lined one swarm of bees
for 1½ miles which formed almost a perfect
square, and I found the bees not over 30 rods
from where I started. 

When bees are heavily loaded, they will seek
the protection of heavy timber and of ravines.
In this way they do not have to travel against
strong winds. Bees prefer to locate near water.
Their color indicates the kind of timber they are
in. In pine, white wood, chestnut you will find
light colored bees, and in oak, beech, maple, the
bees will be dark if they have been there for two
or three months. One must know their nature to
successfully hunt them. 

Bees can be hived from their watering places.
This can be most successfully done in the months
of July, August and September or while they are
raising brood. When there are young bees, a
few are at work carrying water to the brood.
Dry summers or when there is but little water is
the best time for this method of bee hunting. 

Hunters, trappers, guides and others who are
in the forests during the early spring months,

when the snow is still on, search the snow care-
fully under all likely looking trees. The time
for this is the first warm days as after venturing
out they often get cold and drop. This method,
of course, is only good in the north where the
snow gets deep. 

Honey and beeswax are cash articles and the
prospector, land cruiser, trapper, hunter, etc.,
may be able to make a few dollars by "prospect-
ing" for bees during idle moments. A little honey
and beeswax in camp comes in useful.

CHAPTER XV.
RATIONS AND CAMP COOKING. 

This book would be incomplete if some ac-
count was not taken of rations, camp equipage,
guns, tents, bedding, etc. One cannot do better
than to follow the U. S. Army ration as Uncle
Sam is very practical and liberal. He issues the
biggest and best rations to his boys of any gov-
ernment on earth.

Here is his ration in ounces for one man for
one day. Flour 18 oz., corn meal 20 oz., crack-
ers 16 oz., rice 2 oz., hominy 2 oz., peas or beans
2½ oz., salt ¾ oz., coffee roasted 1½ oz., tea ¼ oz.,
sugar 2¼ oz., bacon 12 oz., pork 12 oz., fresh beef
20 oz., salt beef 22 oz., soft bread 18 oz., coffee
green 2 oz. This makes a ration of about 2 6/10
lb. per day per man.

Of course only one bread ration or one meat
ration is issued at one time. If you have a fresh
meat ration you are not issued any salt beef or
pork ration. If you have a soft bread ration
you are issued no flour or cracker ration, and if
peas or beans, no hominy ration, and if corn
meal no flour ration. 

Now for one month for one cruising or pros-
pecting this would be: Flour 34 lb., corn meal 

122 

RATIONS AND CAMP COOKING. 123

37 lb., crackers 30 lb., rice 3 2/3 lb., hominy
¾ lb., peas or beans 4 lb., salt 1½ lb., coffee
roasted 3 lb., tea ¼ lb., sugar 4¼ lb., bacon 22¼
lb., salt pork 22¼ lb., fresh beef 37½ lb., salt beef
41¼ lb., soft bread 34 lb. As before one bread or
meat ration etc., at one issue. 

A ration that I have found to be good for my
use and have used it on a good many trips is for
one week and one man. Bacon 4 lb., corn or
flour 5½ lb., potatoes ¼ pk., (7½ lb.), onions 1 lb.,
beans 1½ lb., coffee 1½ lb., tea ¼ lb., syrup in tin
1¼ lb., salt ¼ lb., pepper ¼ lb., tobacco 5 oz.,
candles ¼ lb., matches in two different tins ¼ lb.,
vinegar one bottle ¼ lb., crackers ¼ lb., soap ¼
lb., cake ¼ lb., baking powder ½ can, ½ lb., dried
apples 1 lb.

This ration is for a week for a man and is
about the U. S. ration. Of course you can add
to or take from it, always keeping near the gov-
ernment ration of 2 6/10 lb. per day per man.
The pack can be lightened by carrying evapor-
ated potatoes and apples. This ration assumes
you are going into a country where fish and
game cannot be depended on or you have not the
time to get it. 

This ration will make a variety of dishes and
for one month in this time of special interests
and trust which, let us hope, will soon end
through a revision of the tariff, will cost you
about $5.75. So if you are thinking of taking a

124 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. RATIONS AND CAMP COOKING. 125

[Image: Tent Shelter Hastily Erected.]

Tent-Shelter Hastily Erected.

claim of land, if you go on it in the spring, you
can live until you get a crop of garden truck for
about eighteen or twenty dollars. Of course if
you can get fish and game your meat ration can
be cut down and all the fat pork or bacon you
will need is for cooking, and every pound of
game you get will be worth twelve or fifteen
cents per pound to you as your pork or bacon
costs about that.

Lieutenant Whelan of the U. S. army, an
old time mountain hunter, for the past ten years
or more carries this ration for a month's trip:
Tea 8 oz., salt 1 lb., sugar 4 lb., oat or corn meal
10 lb., prunes or apples dried 5 lb., rice 2 lb.,
sweet chocolate 2 lb., one can of matches 1 lb.,
crystalose 2 oz.

How in the name of common sense the Lieu-
tenant gets along on this ration I don't under-
stand, although he figures on plenty of game and
fish which would have to be 47 lbs., as the ration
stands now it is that much shy of the govern-
ment ration and I don't understand why so much
sugar and chocolate. I believe I would substi-
tute six pounds of good bacon to cook with as it
would give me 3 1/6 oz. per day. While I be-
lieve the Lieutenant to be a truthful man, I
would not advise any who read this article to
try this ration for more than twelve days or two
weeks. 

It is not safe to depend on game or fish too

126 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. RATIONS AND CAMP COOKING. 127

much for I know of a party who had to knock
over a range steer for something to eat, and
came near getting into the penitentiary at Deer
Lodge, Mont., just for not taking enough grub
along. In days gone by if a man got short of
grub he could kill a steer for grub only, so long
as he hung the hide up on a tree or bush. This
was the unwritten law, but it is now obsolete,
as the cattle men have got so hungry after
money that eight or ten dollars is of more value
than a man's life.

I have dwelt some time on this grub question
as it is very important, and I would say in pass-
ing to carry your matches in two tins, as if you
carry them all in one box they will surely get
wet the same as they do with me. Keep your
candles where the woods or field mice won't get
them. In hanging up meat use an iron wire
instead of a string. 

A word here is not out of place in regard to
cooking in the camp or on the trail. A lot of
good material can be spoilt in cooking or good
wholesome dishes can be made from little. The
best cook I can call to mind is a lumber jack
cook. A good one can come the nearest to mak-
ing something out of nothing as any one can.
The usual feed on the trail is flapjacks and
bacon.

Personally I like good light flapjacks with
good bacon gravy, not sinker flapjacks, but good 

light hot ones and not every one can make them.
Good flapjacks are made thus, for two hungry
men. Take a shy quart of flour, two teaspoons
baking powder, one half teaspoon of salt, and
one heaped of sugar. Mix to a drop batter and
fry in a moderate hot frying pan, and when bub-
bles begin to show on top of the flapjack, turn it
and cook the other side.

Now a word about a fire. If you are in a
timbered country, take two smallish green logs,
hew them flat on one side and lay them about
five inches apart (sometimes stones will do for
this), and build your fire between these green
logs. Let it burn down to coals and if you have
to replenish it use dry twigs. Don't try to cook
on a green smokey fire unless you are actually
obliged to.

To make frying pan bread, proceed the same
way only make your dough stiffer. Make your
loaf flat and have your fire built against a log
or stone. Set your wood on end and have it split
and dry. Set your pan of bread on edge as near
as you can comfortably and as near the fire as
you can and not burn it. You must watch it and
turn your pan once in a while so it will bake
even. Also turn your loaf bottom up so it will
bake on both sides, and if you have patience and
handle things right you will have a pretty good
loaf of bread.

I usually carry corn meal and make a kind of 

128 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. RATIONS AND CAMP COOKING. 129

johnny cake or as some call it "corn dodger"
and here is the way it is made. Take enough
corn meal, salt and a little sugar and a teaspoon
baking powder to make a good stiff dough. Pat
it out in your frying pan to about one inch
thick and bake it in the same manner as the
frying pan bread. I don't like to fry it in grease
as I don't like too much fat around my grub,
although it is the quickest way to cook.

Now a few words about my bean hole. If
you are making a permanent camp, make your
bean hole a good sized one about two feet in
diameter and three feet deep. Line it with good
sized stones. Build your fire in it and let it burn
down to coals. Rake out all the coals and ashes
and set your beans in and cover with about an
inch of ashes and dirt or sand. You can set
your beans in in the afternoon about four
o'clock and in the morning you will find them
baked to a nicety. This method of cooking
beans is the old fashioned way and originated
with the Indians and for cooking rice, oatmeal
and beans it is perfection. 

Fish and game cooked in a bean hole is as
much different from fry pan cooking as night
is from day. In using a bean hole for fish
and game proceed thus: Take your kettle and
make a layer of grass in the bottom, then put
in your meat or fish, then another layer of grass
and so on until your kettle is full. Pour a cup-

ful of water in your kettle before you put the
cover on. The object of putting grass or leaves
on your pail shuts in all the juices and vitality.
Some of you people that are spitting blood in
the city, get out and try this. It's all different
in the woods. You can use for meat in this stew,
partridge, rabbit, chicken, venison, beef or pork.
It will come out of the bean hole thoroughly
cooked and the strength and vitality right in it.
If you are away some time from camp and it
gets cold, add a little water and warm it up.

A fish chowder is made this way. Take your
kettle and put a couple of slices of pork or bacon
in the bottom, then a layer of sliced onions, then
a layer of sliced potatoes, then one of fish, cut in
pieces, and repeat until your kettle is full and
on top put a layer of crackers or old split bis-
cuit or bread. Fill this with water and season
well with pepper and salt and bring to a boil and
to the bean hole with it the same as for beans.
In the morning you will have a fish chowder
that if Teddy R. could taste it, he would say
"de-lighted." This is the only way to cook and
have a hot supper or breakfast with little trouble
and the trapper or cruiser will find it all right.

Another good way to cook fish is to put some
salt and water in your kettle and drop in a little
vinegar and bring it to a boil. Have your fish
ready, if they are not too big, and the ones I
catch seldom are, and I would say in passing
that some of these big fish and big catches are
mostly jawbone catches. I usually scale and 

130 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. RATIONS AND CAMP COOKING. 131

remove the inwards and wash clean, leaving the
heads on, unless they are bullheads. Drop them
into the hot water, first taking it off the fire.
After your fish are in, set it back on the fire and
just let it simmer, not boil, for about twenty
minutes. If your water boils your fish will all
go to pieces in no time. Oatmeal is fine cooked
in a bean hole. I give these methods of cooking
because I don't like too much fry pan around
camp for I have so much of it and it gets old in
time. 

There are some plants and weeds that make
fine greens. For instance, dandelions and the
branches and tips of nettles, but I would not ad-
vise monkeying too much with herbs or toad-
stool mushrooms. If you get poisoned, bring on
vomiting by drinking warm water and mustard,
and sticking your finger down your throat and
keep quiet and stay in camp and eat light food,
in the shape of gruel made of flour and water.
If it is very serious, better send for a doctor and
his pump. 

CHAPTER XVI.
CAMP KITS. 

A good many people differ on what consti-
tutes a good light camp kit for a cruiser, pros-
pector, hunter or trapper. I can give my own
which has done me good service for quite a
while. My cooking outfit is very elaborate. It
consists of a two quart tobacco pail with the
handles or bail riveted on and a tight cover, a
one quart pail that fits into this with bail riveted
on and also a tight cover, two tin plates about
eight inches in diameter, also a tin cup and a
case knife, a fork and tablespoon. The whole
thing cost me about 25c. One of the plates I use
for a frying pan over a bed of hot ashes and
coals, to fry meat and fish in, not burning them
on, mind you.

All this cooking jewelry goes into a flour
sack with three or four shot sacks that contain
my sugar, tea, coffee and salt and pepper mixed
and another muslin sack with my slab of bacon
or fat pork in it, also a shot sack for my beans
and another larger one for my cornmeal or flour.
All these sacks are marked in ink what they
contain and they all go into the flour sack with
cooking outfit. I also carry a canteen for good 

132

CAMP KITS. 133

water and cold tea. I have found this a very
handy thing in any country. Of course this out-
fit won't suit everybody but after such experi-
menting it fits all my requirements to a tee, and
I think if any cruiser, prospector or trapper tries
it he will be satisfied and it will be heavy enough
when it comes night.

TENT AND BEDDING. 

I have had a good deal of trouble with tents
and bedding. I have tried A tents, wall tents,
miners' tents, shelter tents and some more tents
and they are all to heavy except the shelter cloth
and they are utterly useless unless one wishes
to chop down the whole woods and go into the
wood yard business, in order to keep comfortable
if the weather is chilly. All these open tents let
in mosquitoes and these gentlemen are to be
reckoned with at some seasons of the year. I
have also used dog tents with rope ridge poles. 
They are not so bad but you can't stand up in
them to get your duds on. 

I finally had a tent made for me of sail drill.
It is five and a half feet wide by six feet high
and seven feet long and weighs, without stakes
or poles nine pounds. I got four loops sewed to
the ridge pole to stick the tent pole through and
use a couple of crotched sticks for the end poles.
In timbered country you can throw these sticks
away when you break camp, but on the prairie 

134 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. CAMP KITS. 135

you must take them along. I got my tent some
time ago and it cost me $3.50. On a chilly night
by taking a few large stones and putting them
inside it is quite comfortable and just the right
size for two men. It is waterproofed by sugar
of lead and alum process and dyed kahki color

[Image: Tent and Poles]

12'
HOOP

Tent and Poles.

with white oak bark. I do not like a white tent
for every one to rubberneck and visit, and they
show dirt.

A tent that I can recommend for hot or cold
weather, wet or dry, is the teepee tent shown in
the cut. They certainly are the clear thing for
cold weather and should be made of twelve ounce
double filling duck and an eight ounce sod cloth 

and colored kahki with oak bark and water,
fireproofed with sugar of lead and alum, four
pounds sugar of lead, four pounds alum and
three buckets rain water. Soak your tent in this
after it is thoroughly dissolved. Soak it over
night and hang on a fence to dry, this after you
have colored it. The tent here shown is eight
feet high, 10 feet in diameter and a two and a

[Image: Tent and Trench]

2 FT
6X6IN TRENCH COVERED
TO HERE

Tent and Trench.

half foot wall. The peak of the tent is cut off
and a hickory hoop sewed into it to which is
fastened these cords that form the peak and the
tent poles go in. It is a Sibley tent with the
peak end of the tent cut off.

The tent poles are set tripod fashion. The
plan shows a six inch trench in the tent and this
must be covered up to near the cross and a flat
stone laid on for your fire. If you have no 

136 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. CAMP KITS. 137

trench your smoke will not go out. Make the
hoop twelve or fifteen inches in diameter and
use dry wood and get some in your tent before
a rain or storm. The tent is heavy and will take
one man to pack it, but it is solid comfort in
cold and stormy weather and you can make your
bean hole in it. These tents can be procured
from any large dealer I think, and 12 ounce
double filling duck will cost you about $10.00
or about $5.00 apiece for you and your pard,
and are first class for what they are intended.

For a permanent camp for extreme cold
weather the dugout is the best. Select the south
side of a dry knoll or hill and dig out a space
12x15x6+ feet. Cover the roof with poles, then
lay on long grass and cover with two thicknesses
of sod. Build up the front with sod or logs and
pack in a door and glass sash if you can get
them. These dugouts are much warmer and
more comfortable than a log house, and you can
stand any weather in them that ever blew. Build
a fireplace in the back end of stone and clay and
a chimney of sticks and clay and use a little sand
in your clay. Don't make your chimney too big,
5 inches x 10 or 6x15 is plenty large. Use dry
wood and you will have no smoke and use a
large green back log.

Bedding is another thing I have had trouble
with until I found something that suited me. I
now use a five pound all wool army blanket. 

They can be procured from the dealers in camp-
ers' and cruisers' goods for about $6.50 or $7.00
per pair, if you get a good one. In buying a
blanket, look out that the weight is made up in
thickness and not in length and breadth and
make them guarantee all wool or no sale. Take
your magnifying glass and examine it for cotton
threads. There is lots of humbug in blankets.
I also use a piece of 10 ounce canvas, water-
proofed, the same size as the blanket or a little
larger. With the blanket and canvas over you,
you can stand pretty cold weather.

I freeze out oftener from too little cover un-
der me. I use a couple of cheap 90c cotton
blankets sewed together as for a common bed
tick. This I fill with dry grass or leaves, putting
a bed of small limbs under for bed springs, laid
smooth and even as I believe in "smoothing" it
instead of "roughing" it in camp, or anywhere
else for that matter. When you break camp it
can be emptied out and rolled up for the pack
sack. Also don't forget a flour sack for a pillow.
In a permanent camp your tick can be stood
away during the day. 

Perhaps a few words will not be amiss in re-
gard to clothing. For summer most any old
thing will do, but for winter this is not the case.
The best thing I have ever found is an all wool
36 or 40 ounce four mackinaw. It is warm, light
and comfortable and with a knit jacket and vest 

138 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. CAMP KITS. 139

and good wool overshirt and undershirt, one can
stand any weather in the United States and I
never go out of Uncle Sam's dominions. A good
pair of pants of the same stuff as your mackinaw
coat and a pair of wool drawers under and a pair
of light overalls will fix any one all right. If
you are on a long tramp a change of underwear
is desirable, although I have made many a long
cruise without, washing the ones I wore on warm
days.

Footwear is another important thing with a
cruiser or prospector. For summer a good pair
of oil tan single sole calfskin shoes pegged with
large eyelet holes for lacing and about the same
height of leg as a common shoe suits me first
rate, and made to order they are easy on the
feet. A pair of canvas leggings are all right but
I don't like the weight on my legs so I wear my
pants inside my socks. 

In winter you will find a pair of extra heavy
gold seal rubbers with sealed soles and about
three pair of wool socks under them to be all
right. The low cut rubbers are the ones I have
reference to. The socks will curl down over the
edges and keep the snow out. Put your pants
inside your socks. If your rubbers get damp in-
side, heat some gravel, or, better still, some oats
if you can get them, and fill the rubbers and they
will be nice and dry in the morning. I don't like
moccasins. If they get wet they are hard to

dry without burning and get stiff. They are like
a canvas canoe when wet, sloppy and soggy, al-
though around camp they are nice and I will say
in passing I have no personal use for a sleeping
bag, though some like them or pretend they do
after they have been stuck for one. They bother
in getting in and out quickly, and if they get
wet they have got to be ripped apart to dry
them. In summer they are too hot. The outfit
given here will be found to be warm and light
and that is all one wants.

CHAPTER XVII. 
GUNS, AXES AND PACKSTRAPS. 

There is a great difference of opinion in re-
gard to rifles. Every one has his pet and one
has to consider what kind of game he is going
after. A barrel should be rifled with a twist
that will spin a bullet just right. If it spins too
fast it will keyhole or go sideways, and it will
do this same thing if it spins too slow. I have
never had a sunstroke or a brainstorm over these
small bore high power and d-d high cost of
ammunition guns. They may be and are all
right for what they are intended for, that is for
killing men with and will do for the army, but in
my opinion there is no gun today for big game
that can compete with the old Sharp's Reliable
or Ballard 45-90-300 black powder gun.

They were the only meat getters and with the
Springfield Needle gun did more to civilize and
pacify the Indians than all the Peace Commis-
sion that ever came down the pike. Although
the first issue of breech loaders made by the
government I am free to say were a delusion
and mistake, otherwise there would be a differ-
ent story to tell of the Little Big Horn and Cus-
ter. They would not extricate an empty shell

140

GUNS, AXES AND PACKSTRAPS. 141

and especially so if they were a little dirty or
dusty. One had to get a gum weed or stick or
take his pocket knife, if he had one, to get the
empty shell out of the gun.

This was soon rectified and another good gun
was the Spencer, but the load was a little light,
but they had a firstclass reloading mechanism.
If I was rich and could have a big game rifle
made to order I would take a Needle gun and
have a Marlin or Winchester breech pit on it, to
handle about eight shots. I know an army officer
who had a Remington barrel put on a Spring-
field breech and it was a daisy. The old govern-
ment barrel was too long for him. 

In my opinion the best big game gun for the
Rocky Mountains is the Marlin or Winchester
45-90-300, and for the timber the carbine size.
I am not considering smokeless powder at all,
for this reason: Shells that are kept too long
in stock are apt to deteriorate and lose power, if
kept in too high or too low a temperature and
this accounts for the automatic balking some-
times. And besides it is tricky to handle. Even
men who make a study of it blow themselves up
on our battleships every once in a while. 

As to the high speed small bore rifles the
steel jacket bullet cuts the rifling out or spoils
it in about 1000 or 1500 shots and that is too
expensive shooting for me, as I do not trot in the
Oily John class. The Automatics are all right 

142 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. GUNS, AXES AND PACKSTRAPS. 143

in their place, but the place burned down, and,
speaking seriously, there is too much machinery
about them for a practical hunter or trapper.
A whole lot of these guns are made to sell more
than anything else and the "dude tenderfeet"
make a fad of them.

Understand, I am speaking of big game rifles
and Mr. Grizzly bear is in that class, and in
figuring on big game we must figure on the big-
gest and most dangerous we will have to meet.
If any of the boys meet him and wish to culti-
vate an intimate acquaintance or even to be on
speaking terms and say "Howdy" I would advise
that he have a good 45-90-300 and have the
magazine full and one in the barrel.

I could never understand the condition of a
man's mind when he is in a country where no
big game exists, why he takes along on a cruise,
trapping or hunting, some of the batteries I have
seen. Guns of all kinds, revolvers of all descrip-
tions made out of tin and pot metal castings,
knives that would scare a wooden Indian to
death, and that is all they are good for, ammuni-
tion from 4-11-44 up and loaded with powder of
the Lord knows what kind. I wonder if they
ever think that every pound of such trash they
pack bars out so much grub or good traps. Still
different people have different notions and I sup-
pose mine looks as odd to others. I have found
my outfit very light, practical and durable and

after experimenting some time and spending
some money I have got what I want.

Some time ago I came to the conclusion that
I wanted a light, strong take-down gun that I
could put in a pack-sack out of the way when
traveling or in town. One that I could kill
either a deer or a rabbit with. I found in the
gun store a Hopkins & Allen, single gun that
suited, but the barrel was too long. I wrote to
the H. & A. people and got a stubbs twist barrel,
28 inches long, modified choke, bored, 16 gauge
take-down and automatic ejector. It weighs 6¼
pounds and costs the whole sum of $8.00.

This gun answers all my purpose to do all my
killing with and as there are no more long shots
on the prairie at buffalo and elk the largest thing
I can find are chicks, coyotes and ducks and I
never made a howling success shooting these
with a rifle. In the timber 40 or 50 yards is all
the distance you can see. My gun with a bullet
cast from a mould I had the Ideal people make
and backed up with 60 grains of good black
powder, rather coarse in grain, so it will burn
slow and give power the whole length of the bar-
rel and not kick. It is dead medicine up to 70
or 100 yards and its smashing power is some-
times immense. You don't have to follow a deer
all day after he is hit and with a small load of
shot I have put many a rabbit and partridge in

144 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. GUNS, AXES AND PACKSTRAPS. 145

my kettle and fry pan, when I wanted a change
of meat. 

I carry a sheath knife in a leather sheath of my
own make. The knife was once a Wilson sticking
knife with a five inch blade and four inch beech-
wood handle riveted on. I have carried it for
about ten years and find it first-class to dress
meat, cut bacon, or fish poles, dig bean holes
and for a general all round tool it is O. K. and
cost the whole amount of 60c ten years ago.
The blade is pretty well worn and the handle has
some brass wire wrapped around it, but it is an
old friend of mine and we would not part com-
pany at any price or any of Mr. Marble's more
aristocratic knives.

I carry an ax that with sheath and all weighs
one and a fourth pounds and cost 70c about
eight years ago. The ax is shaped the same as
any ax and the handle is 13 inches long over all.
There is a hole through the end and a rawhide
string looped through to slip over my wrist so
I won't lose it when cutting a hole through the
ice or when using it around the water. I also
carry a small whetstone for my knife and ax.
Cartridge belts I don't use. If I want to shoot
quick I want my shells loose in my pocket and
if on a runaway and a single barrel gun I lay
a few beside me in the crown of my old hat. If
you don't get what you shoot at the first time,

the second shot is a quick snapshot and usually
draws a blank. 

Before closing the arms subject, I would say
never fool with the ax or have any loads in your
gun around camp, and I never pack a revolver
or a bottle of whiskey and won't have any around
my camp. Get this stamped on a piece of sheet
brass and rivet it in your hat, a jug of whiskey
and a fool revolver have no place in a camp or
on the trail in any man's country. The whiskey
belongs in the medicine chest with the rest of the
drugs and the revolver with the fool killer. 

I like a good pack strap better than a pack
sack as it can be adjusted to your load. Mine I
got in Chicago and cost 90c, but there is no
head strap on it. That you will have to put on
yourself. I like a head strap - it rests your
shoulders and back and don't ever let your load
come on your hips or the small of the back.
You will tire out much quicker.

In making up your pack, lay your strap on
the ground smooth and the strap properly ar-
ranged, fold and adjust your tent for the pack
cloth. Now fold your woolen blanket and lay
it on. This makes a soft cushion for your back,
next your bed tick, then your canvas sheet, then
your flour sack of cooking utensils and flour. 
This will probably leave some humps on top of
your pack. Now gather up the corners of your

10 

146 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. BUILDING CABINS, TANNING, ETC. 147

tent and pack cloth and fold them nicely over
your pack. Pick up your straps and draw them
tight between the humps your cooking utensils
make and you are ready to hit the trail.

I usually stick the small ax under a strap on
top of the pack and tie it with the string in the
handle as this is the first thing you will use
when you start to make camp. Your pard takes
the hatchet and starts a fire while you undo the
pack. Your cooking kit and grub comes first.
Then lay aside your bedding, and if it is storm-
ing spread your waterproof canvas sheet over it
and proceed to pitch your tent, as by that time
your pard has got his wood ready and you can
use the ax for tent poles. By the time your tent
is up the bacon, flapjacks and coffee are ready
for you, fill the canteen at the last creek you
crossed and you don't have to hunt for water.
In 30 or 40 minutes you are ready to turn in well
sheltered, fed and housed. Of course you have
not had time to fill your tick as you are going to
hit the trail in the morning so you lie on it.

I will say if you encounter storms and cold
and blow, go into camp and wait for it to clear
up. There is no use wasting your strength buck-
ing up against something you can make no head-
way at. Save your strength for useful work.

CHAPTER XVIII.
BUILDING CABINS, TANNING, ETC.

As I have seen so many inquiries in the H-
T-T about building cabins, making moccasins
and tanning buckskins, and other inquiries, I
thought I would write and let them know who
don't know what I know. Boys, it takes every-
body to know everything, so don't be afraid to
tell. We trappers are scattered too much to
hurt each other with the secrets we tell.
The market won't be flooded either. So I
will begin to tell a little of what I know. My
methods are adapted to rough and mountainous
countries where packing on back or horse is re-
quired.

First in building a good and cheap cabin, se-
lect a place (in the spring of the year), where
it is best suited for water and wood. Cut your
logs and peel them so when you go to build your
cabin in the fall your logs are light and dry and
you don't need anybody to help handle them. 

For tools, an ax, shovel and one and a half inch
bit is all that is required. Cut your notches in
logs to suit yourself, flat, V shaped or a hollow
notch in bottom of log to drop top log in suits
me good enough for fast work. 

147

148 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. BUILDING CABINS, TANNING, ETC. 149

Get on a side hill so that you can get enough
excavating for a fire place. This will also save
several logs and less danger from fire and from
fireplace. I have built a good cabin against a
big boulder that had a good smooth side to it.
Notch your logs deep enough so that there is
about two inches of space between the logs. Be
sure and cut out a starter for a small window
pane on any side you want to. I prefer the east
and west side, also a starter for a door, the
smaller the door, the better.

When you have the cabin high enough, lay
across small poles for roof. Cover next with
branches or bark. Then about a half foot of
dirt on top. Then in center of this roof on each
end place a log as big as you can get up there.
This will give you the slope of the second roof.
Put split poles on the log and let them project
over the sides of the cabin about a foot and a
half. Then when laid close together will turn
rain and help hold snow off the bottom roof. I
never had one to fail me yet. Chink up cracks
on inside of cabin and mud the outside.

If you can't afford to pack up window panes,
cut a hole for one any way and split some thin
shapes to cover them so that you can take them
off and have light in the cabin whenever you
want it. For a door split small poles in half and
nail together with split strips. For home-made
hinges, drill holes in two logs about three feet

apart, one on the top and one on the bottom, the
same as you would for ordinary hinges. Into
these holes drive wooden pegs, flat on one end
with holes bored through on ends. Into these
holes on ends of pegs fit a small pole pointed on
each end. To this pole nail your door and you
will have a door that will swing good enough for
anybody. 

I have seen dry deer and elk hides used for
doors, and they were nailed to the cabin on one
side, inside of cabin mostly with hair side out,
and they would snap shut like a steel trap when
you went in and out. But varmints are apt to
eat your door up when you are gone for months.
Build your fireplaces of rocks and mud, also the
chimney. Put your fireplace just opposite the
door. It makes a good draft and is not so apt to
smoke.

Here I will describe a way to have a home-
made stove, those who prefer it. Get a piece of
light sheet iron (stove pipe will do) about two
feet wide and four feet long. Cut as many holes
as you want in this. Cut a cross in one end for
stove pipe. Bend up the point of the cross cut-
ting to hold stove pipe. This piece of sheeting
will make a good top for your stove. Build the
sides of small rocks and mud mixed together,
and leave a big hole for a door. This kind of
stove is "sure heap good." Try it boys. I have 

150 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. BUILDING CABINS, TANNING, ETC. 151

kept fire in one all night without feeding it, be-
tween retiring and rising. 

TANNING DEER SKINS. Put the hide in a
thick soup of ashes, slacked or lime, and leave
in that until hair slips easy. Then throw over
smooth log and scrape off hair and by using a
sharp cornered piece of iron, and by scraping
and pressing down real hard, you remove what
you call the grain. After this operation, grease
flesh side with bacon, use bacon grease, it is
best. Hang up for a day or two. Then put in a
bucket full of water that has a bar of common
laundry soap dissolved in it. Indians use dried
brains in water in place of strong soap water.
Leave in this until you can squeeze water
through the hide easily. It takes from five to
nine days in this solution. Then take it out and
wash it out in weak soap water. Then wrap the
hide around a sapling and run a stick through
and wring it as hard and dry as you can. Then
pull and stretch it dry, which will take about
three hours hard pulling until it is as soft and
woolly as underwear. This produces the fine In-
dian tanned buckskin. When putting the hide
in that soap solution, keep it in a moderate room
if possible. It won't take so long.

From these skins tanned this way I have
made my own moccasins, gloves, and clothing.
Try it boys, and if you don't succeed let me
know. You can tan a hide over again if it does 

not get soft enough the first time. I make the
Sioux and Crow moccasin. Can make a pair of
low or high moccasins in an hour. By making a
pair out of oil cloth and putting that on over
your socks and then moccasins over that, you
have the best and lightest and nearly dry foot-
wear you ever wore. In hunting and trapping, I
wear nothing else. I can walk on to more game
with them than with any other footwear.

I used to wear over buckskin moccasins, raw
elk or horsehide with the hair outside and slant-
ing backwards, which keeps you from slipping
on wet snow, and if ever a marten comes across
your trap trail he will follow you up to the first
trap. He smells the scent the rawhide leaves on
the trail.

WHEN YOUR WEB SHOES GET WET AND
SOGGY, oil them in linseed and it sure will make
them tight and waterproof. For skees grease the
bottom with tallow or candle and burn it in with
hot stove lids, and the snow won't stick to them
as long as it lasts. For going up hill so that they
won't slip backwards, nail a trip of deer hide
with the hair on the bottom with the hair back-
wards. When your skee starts to slip backwards
the hair will stick in the snow and in going for-
wards you will not notice that it goes harder or
heavier.

COYOTE SET. Take your bait, whatever will
interest a coyote, put it in a low place that has

152 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. BUILDING CABINS, TANNING, ETC. 153

a few little high mounds within 10 to 25 feet
away. Stake the bait down, and if any coyote
attempts to eat from it put some old horse shoes
or any old iron around the bait to keep him
away, and he will sit on these high mounds and
howl for some time. Now there is where you
want to set your traps. Never set by the bait
but set in such places where you think he is apt
to sit down to look at it.

Use grapples and dig trap down level with
the ground. Put wool or cotton under the pan
and cover the whole trap with paper. Then
brush dirt over the trap and be sure to cover it
good, not too deep. A trap set this way will
spring in three inches of snow. Set several
traps on such places and also in trails, and I bet
you will catch coyotes. That is the way I catch
them. Did you ever notice how they will walk
in your footsteps and how sure they are to step
in your tracks? Set a trap in the trail and re-
member the place well. Then walk on this trail
as natural as possible, and when you come to
your trap step lightly on your trap, just enough
to leave your footprint, and watch the next
coyote how he will step in your footprint and
get caught. Try it. 

JERKING VENISON AND DRYING FISH. Cut
the meat off the bones, cut in long, thin strips,
spread on the hide and sprinkle with one and a
half pints of salt (more or less according to the 

size of the deer) on it. Turn the edges of the
hide over so as to cover the meat entirely. Leave
it that way for an hour or so. Then spread the
venison on the drying frame made as follows:
Set four crotched stakes five or six feet apart
in a square. Take two poles and lay them in the
crotches and tack willows or some other sweet
wood from one pole to the other, leaving about
one inch spaces between them. Lay the meat
crossways of the cracks. This frame should be
about four feet from the ground. Keep a fire
of sweet wood under it for twenty-four hours.

Cut your fish open on the back, remove the
backbone and insides, salt real heavy and leave
for several hours. Then wash and lay on the
drying frame, using fire same as for the venison. 
If you are where you can put the fish on a dry-
ing frame in a smokehouse and use but little
fire, do so. Don't attempt to hang them up, for
when they get warmed up a little they are very
tender and the weight would pull them apart.

CHAPTER XIX.
GETTING LOST.

This is not intended for the man who goes
into the wilderness and mountains with a
proper compass and maps — he don't need any
advice. If he has these articles he probably
knows how to use them. This is intended for
the man who leaves camp for a little hunt or to
visit some other camp or to look up strayed stock
and gets turned around — and the best of them
do. I have been there myself. The worst mix-up
I ever got in was in a foolish little forty acres
of large sized brush and before I knew it I was
circling and had to stop myself and lay a
straight line the best I could, as the confounded
brush was all the same size.

I have known of some sad cases of this
getting lost or mixed up. One being the Grohs
brothers who were the true discoverers of the
Comstock mine. They were two good moral
young men, born of good Christian parents, their
father being a Pennsylvania clergyman and
lived up to it. They went to California in the
time of the rush to the placer diggings and not
being very lucky started into the mountains to
look for quartz and found the monster Comstock

154

GETTING LOST. 155

vein. They staked off some claims and uncov-
ered their vein and traced it and had some of
the ore assayed. Went back to their claim and
were doing work on it when one of the brothers
stuck his pick in his foot, making a bad wound,
from which he died of blood poison. The other
brother stayed rather late in the fall as there
was a range of mountains to cross to get to Sac-
ramento and winter was on when he started to
go out and file on his claims. He was part way
across and was overtaken by storms and had to
stop and make snowshoes. More storms coming
and his grub giving out, in his weakened state
he got to circling and lost his sense of direction.
He was so far gone when he got out that he died
from the exposure and others got the credit for
discovering the monster vein of ore. Now mind
you, this man was not a tenderfoot by any
means. They are not always the ones that get
mixed up. 

Another case I call to mind, some hunters in
the north woods following a wounded moose
came upon a man's track who was circling. They
followed his trail until dark and returned to
camp. The next morning as soon as they could
see, they picked up the trail again and found
the lost man was following their trail of the day
before. Taking the back track to their cabin
they found him lying on the floor dying. He
had got to the grub, eaten his fill and it killed

156 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. GETTING LOST. 157

[Image: Prospectors and Cruisers in the Northwest]

Prospectors and Cruisers in the Northwest.

him. They could get no word from him as he
was too far gone. He had torn off his clothes
to wrap around his feet which were frozen
almost solid. He was reduced to skin and bone,
his face was cracked and black from frost and
looked likea death's head, the skin looking like
parchment. They gave him a Christian burial
but could never find out who he was, altho they
tried hard to do so when they came out of the
woods and he is a mystery to this day. He had
thrown away his gun and there were no papers
on him. It was certainly pitiful and all the
more so because it was absolutely unnecessary.

Supposing you leave camp in the morning
for a little hunt and when you start to return
you don't find camp where you expected to and
you find you are all turned around or have lost
your sense of direction. Now as soon as you
become aware of this fact, stand right there and
don't on your life move from that spot. Build
a fire and sit down. If you have no matches
you are surely out of luck but this will not
bother an oldtime trapper or prospector any —
it will only delay him for a few minutes from
lighting his pipe. He will sit down on a log and
proceed to take a piece of his old kerchief or part
of an old pocket lining, but it will be cotton and
not wool, and he will pick it into lint or tow.
Now he will take his knife and a dry limb
and whittle some fine trash. If it is storming

157

158 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. GETTING LOST. 159

he will find this under the bark of a dead tree
or stump. Next he will proceed to pull a car-
tridge out of his belt or pocket and pull the bul-
let out and lay it aside. He will then pour out
the powder on a dry leaf or piece of bark. He
will now put back a little powder loose in the
cartridge shell and put a piece of tow loosely on
top. He will now put the shell in the gun and,
holding the muzzle a few feet from his other
piece of tow, he will snap the trigger and presto!
his tow is afire, probably both pieces. He will
now put his fine trash on and blow it a little
and your fire is going and your trouble is over
about a fire. You have simply traded a primer
and a little black powder for a good warm fire
and a good trade you made, did you not?

With a cold night before you and lost at
that and perhaps the snow falling, you will now
light the little pipe and warm up and as you
get warm your think box will go to work about
like this. Infantry soldiers march about three
miles an hour and when you left camp it was
about 7 A. M. and it is now about three or four
P. M., and getting dusk so if you have gone
straight away from camp you are twenty-four
or twenty-seven miles away from it, but you did
not go straight away, you went slow and looked
for game and you followed that dry trail of a
deer until he heard you and went into that
swamp and you gave it up and came back across

that creek and on down here and it is consider-
ably more than an even break that you are not
more than six or eight miles from camp at most,
but the dickens of it is, which way. 

Now here lies the secret. Just stay there
until some one comes and tells you. Get some
wood together and make a longish fire and let
it burn until this long spot is thoroughly warm
and dry for you want this place to sleep on. Put
a couple of logs or some brush at your back and
move your fire a few feet in front and lie down
on your warm spot between your fire and logs.
I have put in quite a few comfortable nights this
way and was not lost either.

Now about 9 P. M. they will begin to think
in camp what has become of you and wonder
what has happened and by daybreak they will
get busy and about this time you want to get
busy. Fix up your fire and get some green stuff
and make the worst smoke you can and keep
it up and fire your gun once in a while and by
9 A. M. I will guarantee there will be some one
there to give you the horse laugh and show you
the way home. 

But here is another case. Suppose no one
knows you are lost. Then you will have to do
differently. You certainly know there are sev-
eral railroads that cross this continent, on the
north the C. P. R. R., then the G. N. R. R., then
the N. P. R. R., the U. P. R. R., also the St. F. 

160 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. GETTING LOST. 161

R. R. and S. P. R. R. Now you certainly know
which side of one of these roads you are on and
somewhere near how far you are from them.
Next you must find north and south. This is
easily done at sunrise or sunset. If at sun-
rise, face the sun and your right hand will point
south and at sundown your left will point south.
If at night old Polaris or the North Star will
wink at you and tell you that is true north and
he won't be telling you any lie either. You can
find him easy enough. Find the big dipper and
the two stars farthest from the handle point
right at him, looking from the bottom of the dip-
per and the dipper makes a circle around old
Polaris every night for fear he will get away.
He has been there to my certain knowledge 53
years. An old sailor can tell the time of night
pretty close by the dipper.

After you have north and south, lay a stick
on the ground that way. Now call to mind care-
fully if you have crossed any railroad track
lately since you have lost your sense of direction. 
Supposing you have not and you think the near-
est one is south. Go to your stick that lies north
and south and select some object as far away as
you can see and travel towards it, but before
you are quite to it, select another farther on
and in a direct line to your course and continue
this plan. Take it easy and if you get up against
a swamp, make a turn and continue this plan,

being careful to note which way you turned, east
or west. When you get to the end of the swamp,
turn again south, still running your line. Take
it easy and drink lots of water if it is good
water. If not, keep a pebble in your mouth.

You have the little fish line and some hooks
in your pocket that all old time cruisers and
trappers carry and you can find a grub in any
old rotten log or stump and that is good for a
fish. If you have a gun, keep your eye open
for a squirrel, rabbit, partridge or any old thing
that will make meat and don't pay too much at-
tention to old logging roads, unless very recently
traveled, and it is a sure bet you will come out
O. K. long before you strike the railroad. 

But by following my advice and laying your
line you will come out all right if you don't get
rattled and go to running and if you do and ever
get out, for God's sake, stay out for a peanut
headed man has no right in the woods and
should be confined somewhere with the rest of
the old women.

The following under the heading "Lost" by
A. L. Johnson, appeared in the Hunter-Trader-
Trapper, published at Columbus, Ohio, and suits
so well here that it is reproduced. 

Were you ever lost? The writer has never
really been lost, altho a little tangled up a few
times. The reason for me not getting lost is

11

162 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. GETTING LOST. 163

that I am something like the Indian who was
found wandering aimlessly about the woods. A
pale faced trapper happened to find him and
asked if he was lost. Mr. Redskin said "no, me
no lost, wigwam lost." I have heard of some
people that claim they can walk in the wild
forest without even a compass, rain or shine,
and never fail to go in the right direction. I
have tumbled around in the woods some, but
must admit my inability to perform such a won-
derful feat. I believe if anyone should be able
to walk in the woods by merely following the
inborn instinct, the Indian would surely be the
first one, yet, I know at least one Indian that
was afraid of getting lost. 

Some time in December, eight or nine years
ago, I was trapping on Mud Hen River, and an
old full blooded Indian trapper, (his name was
Joe Tucker, I knew him well) came to my camp
and told me he had followed a bear, but the
snow kept falling so that at last he lost the track
entirely. About two weeks after part of the
snow melted away, and the first thing I knew
Mr. Tucker came along and told me he had come
back, picked up the old track and killed his bear. 
He told me where he had killed it, close to a
small lake. I asked him why he didn't go right
across from the lake out to the main trail and
save two miles walking. His answer was "no
sun, no good, bad day, me no compass," and this

Indian was a first class trapper, a hustler from
way back, and not one of those lazy things lying
about the reservation and drawing government
rations. 

That shows that even an Indian depends on
something for his guide. The easiest and quick-
est way of getting lost is by following the track
of some animal during a snow storm. The
hunter is constantly looking at the track in the
snow, or else watching ahead for the game he
is following without paying any attention to the
direction he is going. He may encounter well
known places and objects during the chase with-
out taking any notice of it, as the snow laden
timber and bushes changes the appearance and
surroundings of everything and makes it look
strange. After perhaps a further attempt of
bagging his game, he finally gives up and makes
for camp. If he has a compass and knows how
to use it, or retraces his own trail, good and
well, but if he has forgotten his compass in camp
and the falling snow has obliterated his track
many miles to camp and night fast approaching,
then indeed the young hunter will find himself
in a rather uncomfortable position. 

Of course you know where the camp is, it's
right over there the other side of that big bunch
of timber, but after going towards "that timber"
you, in some mysterious way, find yourself back
on your own track. Oh, no, you are not lost

164 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. GETTING LOST. 165

yet; you just happened to cross your track a
couple of times more and you will begin to feel
a little "queer" about it, and at last admit to
yourself that you are lost. 

Sit down on an old log and think it over. If
you have a road, a trail, river or lake in the
neighborhood of your camp and you know which
side of it you are on, there may be some hope
for you, but whatever you do, don't get rattled
at the prospect of spending a night in the woods.
Just take it easy and think it over; try to recol-
lect which side of your face you got the most
snow on when you went after that "moose," and
compare it with the snow that's falling now; 
try to remember how the wind was blowing
"when you a gunning went," and notice how it
is blowing now. If the snow has stopped and
no wind, put one of your fingers in your
mouth and hold it there long enough to become
thoroughly warmed, then hold it up above your
head, and you will soon notice one side of it
becomes cold quicker than the other. That is
the side the current comes from, and if the wind
has not changed since you left camp you will
very likely soon wonder how you could be so
foolish to think "the camp was over there."

However, if you have nothing to guide you,
it will be almost useless to try to reach camp.
You will most surely walk in a circle (due to the
muscles being stronger in one leg than the

other) and only tire yourself out. Better pre-
pare yourself to stay in the woods over night be-
fore it gets too dark. Find a place where there
is plenty of dry timber for fire wood; select a
place for your bed alongside of a big log if pos-
sible, and make your fire a little higher than the
bed. Build your fire and burn off all the long
timber to make them more handy to handle dur-
ing the night. Take some saplings and put in
the ground outside of the big log, let the logs
lean over your bed at an angle of about 45 de-
grees, on top of this put plenty of balsam, spruce,
cedar or pine brush; stick some more of the
brush in the ground at the ends where your head
and feet will be; scrape the snow away in the
bed and put plenty of brush there also, and your
quarters are complete. Gather some birch bark
or small dry twigs to start fire with in the night
if it should be needed. In selecting your wood
always remember that spruce, balsam and cedar
are the worst spark throwers; dry poplar and
pine with green hard wood is the best, although
the latter is impossible to get without an ax.

If you are very tired, and cold is intense, do
not allow yourself to go to sleep at all. There
are strong reasons why you should not, but if
you don't feel "all played out" and the weather
is moderately cold, there is no danger in going to
sleep. You will readily wake up when you get
chilly.

166 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. GETTING LOST. 167

Don't let those awful bear stories scare you.
Those terrible man-eaters you hear so much
about, and see so little of, is mostly imaginary,
gotten up by the would-be sport, for the chief
purpose of impressing you with the dreadful
monsters he encounters and repels in the brief
time of a two or three day's outing. Remember
that all wild animals will take a piece of meat
of any kind in preference to even a nice warm
porter-house-end of a young trapper.

In my opinion no one has any business in an
unsettled region without a good compass. What
is meant by a good compass for a trapper is not
one that costs $10 or $15, but one that can be
bought in any hardware store for a dollar or a
dollar and a half. It should be one with a jeweled
needle to prevent wear. Practice with it occa-
sionally; walk in a certain direction a half or a
whole mile; pay no attention to timber brush or
anything else, just be governed by the needle
and pace the distance walked. Then turn around
and go back, but don't try to follow your own
steps; go exactly as the compass indicates and
pace the distance back also. If you have done
it right, you should strike the starting point, if
not, note the difference of courses taken and
take the average of the two.

The practice will save you a lot of work
sometimes. If you happen to kill a moose or
deer on bare ground, a mile or so from any road 

or trail, you would not need to run a blazed line
from your game out to that trail. All you would
have to do would be to make an approximate
guess of the nearest direction to the trail, run
your compass accordingly and pace the distance,
(2000 paces to a mile is the standard cruising
pace.) 

Many people believe that the north end of
the compass needle points to the north pole.
Such is not the case. There is only one place in
the United States where the needle points to the
true north (the imaginary end of the earth's
axis); that place is on a northwesterly line from
Charleston, S. C., passing close to Columbus,
(where our H-T-T is printed) and running
through Lansing, Mich., into Lake Superior. At
any other place the needle will point to the West
or East of the true North. At Bangor, Me., it is
about 18 degrees west and at Olympia, Wash.,
23 degrees east.

But as astronomy and surveying is only to a
limited extent included in a trapper's education,
it is not necessary to go into a lengthy detail of
this magnetic variation.

THE RED RIVER TRAPPER. 169

CHAPTER XX. 
THE RED RIVER TRAPPER. 

Moulton, known far and wide as the Red
River trapper and hunter, worked with me and
for me off and on for two years. He was a man
whom I never knew to utter an oath, never
knew him to drink anything stronger than black
coffee. He was clean of heart and mouth, a man
about five feet, ten inches and weighed probably
190 or 200 pounds and not an ounce of mush at
that. I never asked him his age — he was re-
served about his antecedents, but I should judge
him to be at that time — 1883 — about 49 or 52
years of age. There was always a smile on his
face and in his grey eyes and I never knew him
to lose his temper under the most trying circum-
stances and sometimes they were many, although
they said if occasion required Moulton was a bad
man in a mixup. He was one of a fast disap-
pearing class of men that were found on the
prairie and in the woods in those days and this
country will soon see them no more. 

He was somewhat reserved in his speech, but
what he did say was always pleasant and whole-
some to listen to and was usually good horse
sense. He was handy around camp and could

168 

make anything from an ax handle to a log house
and was a mighty good and handy man around
camp. I saw him one day take an ax and cut a
good fitting pair of pants out of a couple of oat
sacks and then put a half sole on the rear of
them, as the boys used to call it, the same as
caveberry pants, only it was made of a Pils-
bury's Best flour sack, with the words showing
very prominent. From that time on the chap
that wore them was known as "Pilsbury's Best"
all over the Red River country and he wore these
pants until he wore them out. I met old "Pils-
bury's Best" this last winter here, and of course
extended to him the courtesies of the day, in the
shape of interviewing several good members of
the bar and the accompanying wet goods.

He bitterly bemoaned his fate that he had
got so low-down as to work in a packing house
stock yard, said as soon as he could get an out-
fit he was going back to trap, hunt and work on
the ranches. I would have staked him, but it
was a case of too much nose paint. If
you were reducing your force on account of hav-
ing the work nearly done Moulton was one of the
last men you would let go. In working he did
not seem to be so fast as some, and you would
think he would lose out, but somehow when
night came Moulton was to the good with the
best of them and seemed to be as fresh as when
he started in the morning. He put in his sum-

170 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. THE RED RIVER TRAPPER. 171

mers on the ranches and winters he hunted and
trapped and incidentally he was a wonderful
shot with a rifle.

If I would tell you of some of the shots I
have seen him make you would put me down as
a prevaricator, so I won't attempt it. He was
not an ignorant man. He could discuss most
any subject intelligently, but if you wanted to
have a conversation with Moulton and get him
intensely interested, talk rifles and traps. I
have lain many a night in my blankets and dis-
cussed this subject with him as it interested me
very much also. 

These were the days when the Springfield
Needle gun was at its height of popularity, but
were hard to get, as the United States govern-
ment controlled them and to be found with one
by a government man in that country was to
have it confiscated. I will never forget the day
that Moulton took me secretly to an old govern-
ment granary and told me in whispers that he
had bought a Springfield. Digging down in the
oats he pulled out a nearly new one. I did not
ask him where he got it for such questions were
not considered good form in that country in
those days, but wherever he got it he gave value
received to some one and asked no questions, for
he was thoroughly honest. At the time I was
night horse wrangler for the United States gov-

[Image: Bringing in Game.]

Bringing in Game.

172 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. THE RED RIVER TRAPPER. 173

ernment and had bought some equipment from
the discharged soldiers myself. 

Moulton was a successful trapper when he
was at that business in its season. He told me
that one of his most successful methods was to
run a line of traps across a river valley or draw
and on both sides at intervals of a mile or so,
connecting them with a drag scent made of fish
oil, and incidentally this fish oil was the most
abominable smelling stuff ever invented. He
would catch a lot of fish along in August or
September, cut them up in small pieces, put
them in a glass jar and hang it in the sun for six
or eight weeks with the cover loosely screwed on,
and at the end of that time they would smell to
heaven. They were sure the worst stink that
ever stunk. This was his medicine and he said
it was the best he had ever found, bar none. He
always used Newhouse traps of the best quality
and usually large ones for he said he could never
tell what you were going to catch. He always
used the cubby house set if he could not find any
hollow logs or trees. 

He would build a little house of dead limbs
and bark, using old stuff, never leaving any
chips or new litter around and always using a
pair of buck gloves to handle things with. He
would build these inclosures about eight or ten
inches high and twelve or fifteen inches long and
the cover he would make as near weather tight

as possible and stop up all holes but one end
and then poke a little leaf trash into the bottom
of them and they all looked so natural, built
against a log or tussock of some kind, you would
think they grew there. He would let them stand
a while before he put in his traps and he would
wash them in lye and boil them in hay and leaf
chaff. With a good-sized canvas haversack filled
with leaf trash of the surroundings he would
start out and set his lines of traps. When near
one of his cubby houses he would stop and put
on a pair of moccasins over his shoes, made of
raw muskrat hides, fur out, and set his traps
with them on. During this operation he used a
pair of buck gloves for this purpose only, wearing
another pair when doing other work.

He usually used a bird or piece of rabbit for
bait as this was about the only bait you could get
in this country in late fall. He would put his
bait in the back of his cubby and his trap pretty
well in, to keep it out of the weather. Lastly he
scattered a few feathers or some fur over his
trap and came away. He always clogged his
traps and this clog was put there when he first
made his cubby house, and he never failed to
daub some of that almighty fish oil inside his
set. He seldom set a trap in water for he said
it was too much work to chop them out if frozen
and he did not like to get wet and daubed up
with mud, for it was most all clay banks in that 

174 LAND CRUISING AND PROSPECTING. THE RED RIVER TRAPPER. 175

country. Besides, he said it made tracks and
gave things away. He had traps with a piece of
nickel plated tin riveted on the pan. These he
used for otter with a water set, as he said an ot-
ter was very inquisitive, and for beaver he used
beaver castor daubed on the brush around his
trap and this was all the bait he ever used that
I know of.

Moulton was a successful trapper for he had
money laid away and quite a sum, and he used
to send money home to a sister back east. The
last time I saw Moulton was in Fargo, Dakota,
before it was a state, and he wanted me to make
a trip with him to the Bad Lands on the Little
Missouri river. Good old Moulton is now trap-
ping beyond the Divide in the Happy Hunting
Grounds, if there is any trapping there. Shortly
after I saw him he went to the Little Missouri
river with a pard, built a shack and got in grub
and began to prepare to trap, and had got a line
out. At that time it was considered policy to
leave one man in camp as there were known to
be Indians off the Reservation without leave of
the agent, and it was Moulton's turn to stay.
When his pard got back he found him shot and
scalped and the shack looted but not burned.
His pard heard the shot, but thought Moulton
had got a crack at a deer as they were plenty
there then. The Indians were trailed to the
Reservation but could not be identified and were

probably on hand to draw their supplies the next
ration day. I have seen some good Indians — 
quite a few in fact, but they were made so by a
Sharp's Reliable or a Springfield in the hands
of Uncle Sam's boys. 

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